3   1822  00108  1256 


E   HISTORY 


REAT  BOER  TREK 


3  182200168 


7  IQ 


THE    HISTORY    OF   THE 
GREAT   BOER  TREK 


FIRST  EDITION,  CAPE  TOWN,  1856. 

SECOND  EDITION  (5,000),  LONDON,  November ;  1899. 

THIRD  EDITION     (2,000)          „          December,  1899. 

Reprinted        (1,000)          ,,  January,  1900. 

Reprinted       (1,000)          „          February,  1900. 

Reprinted        (1,500)          ,.  March,  1900. 


THE    HISTORY   OF   THE 

GREAT   BOER  TREK 

AND   THE   ORIGIN   OF   THE 
SOUTH   AFRICAN   REPUBLICS 


BY  THE  LATE 

HON.    HENRY    CLOETE,    LL.D. 

HER  MAJESTY'S  HIGH  COMMISSIONER  FOR  NATAL,  1843-44 


EDITED  BY  HIS  GRANDSON 

W.   BRODRICK-CLOETE,   M.A. 


LONDON 

JOHN   MURRAY,  ALBEMARLE  STREET 
1900 


PREFACE 

AT  a  time  like  the  present  I  conceive  that 
no  apology  can  be  required  or  expected 
from  anyone  who  endeavours  to  enlighten  the 
ignorance  or  to  remove  the  misapprehensions 
concerning  South  African  history  and  affairs 
which  undeniably  exist  among  great  numbers 
of  our  countrymen.  It  is  with  that  object 
that  I  now  republish  in  a  popular  form  a  book 
hitherto  not  easily  procurable,  which  gives  a 
succinct  but  adequate  and  impartial  account  of 
the  course  of  events  in  South  Africa  from  the 
conquest  of  Cape  Colony  to  the  formation  of 
Natal  into  a  British  colony  in  1843.  The 
book  consists  of  five  lectures  delivered  to  the 
Literary  Society  of  Pietermaritzburg  in  1852-5 
by  my  grandfather,  the  Hon.  Henry  Cloete, 
whose  high  character  and  attainments  com- 
manded the  confidence  alike  of  the  Boer 
farmers,  the  British  settlers,  and  Her  Majesty's 
Government ;  who  was  chosen  as  Her  Majesty's 


viii  PREFACE 

Commissioner  to  negotiate  the  final  settlement 
of  Natal ;  who  as  regards  many  other  im- 
portant events  could  well  say  "quorum  magna 
pars  fui"  and  who  delivered  these  lectures, 
within  ten  years  of  the  date  of  the  Natal 
settlement,  in  presence  of  a  mixed  British  and 
Boer  audience  in  whose  minds  the  occurrences 
dealt  with  were  a  fresh  and  vivid  memory. 

Just  because  the  book  is  a  condensed  and 
dispassionate  statement  of  facts  from  which 
inference  and  comment  have  been  excluded 
with  singular  care,  it  requires  to  be  read  with 
intelligent  attention.  But  if  read  with  atten- 
tion and  some  moderate  exercise  of  political 
imagination,  it  will  enable  the  candid  student 
to  understand  the  clash  of  conflicting  interests 
and  incompatible  ideals  which  has  created  the 
South  African  question  as  we  know  it  to-day. 
He  will  see  in  the  conduct  of  the  Colonial 
Office  much  to  deplore,  but  not  so  much 
that  can  be  fairly  charged  to  official  blunder- 
ing if  due  regard  be  had  to  the  conflicting 
impulses  and  ideals  of  the  English  people. 
He  will  find  in  the  conditions  prevailing  in 
Cape  Colony,  when  we  took  it  over  from  the 
Dutch,  elements  of  disorder  and  difficulty 


PREFACE  ix 

with  which  only  the  highest  sagacity,  aided 
by  good  fortune,  could  have  coped  with  entire 
success.  While  driven  to  confess  that  neither 
of  these  agencies  was  always  present,  he  will 
nevertheless  admit  that  the  complete  tran- 
quillisation  of  Cape  Colony  and  of  Natal 
under  British  rule  is  a  not  inconsiderable 
achievement,  and  his  forecast  of  the  future, 
based  upon  the  story  of  the  past,  will  not  be 
that  of  a  pessimist. 

When  this  country  took  over  the  Cape 
Colony,  the  farmers  in  the  rural  districts  had 
been  demoralised  by  the  habit  of  receiving 
grants  of  blocks  of  from  ten  to  thirty  square 
miles  for  single  farms.  Civilisation  and  even 
government  loses  its  hold  upon  a  population 
so  scattered.  The  farmers  had  ceased  to 
cultivate  according  to  civilised  methods,  and 
had  relapsed  into  a  purely  pastoral  and  even 
nomadic  life.  The  territory  had  become  too 
small  for  this  wasteful  colonisation,  and  the 
Boers  habitually  encroached,  both  temporarily 
and  permanently,  upon  the  lands  of  the  sur- 
rounding native  tribes.  These  tribes  not  un- 
naturally made  reprisals,  especially  as  the  treat- 
ment accorded  to  them  was  uniformly  severe. 


x  PREFACE 

This  is  the  kernel  of  the  South  African 
question.  The  Boer  farmers  tenaciously 
clung  to  their  supposed  rights  to  take  as 
much  land  as  they  pleased,  shooting  as  many 
of  its  owners  as  they  saw  fit,  in  districts 
which  were  not  under  the  control  of  the 
British  Government.  They  expected  that 
Government,  whose  treaties  they  broke  and 
whose  orders  they  disobeyed,  to  intervene  on 
their  behalf  whenever  their  proceedings  pro- 
voked a  Kafir  rising ;  and  the  Colonial  Office 
alternately  defended  them  for  the  sake  of  the 
colony  they  endangered,  and  recoiled  from 
the  limitless  responsibilities  thus  entailed.  The 
right  policy,  of  course,  was  to  set  up  a  chain 
of  military  posts  upon  the  frontier  and  to  do 
even-handed  justice,  keeping  the  Kafirs  out 
and  the  Boers  in,  until  the  population  of  the 
colony  became  sufficiently  dense  to  justify 
orderly  annexation  of  new  districts.  But  this 
policy  actually  adopted  by  one  far-seeing 
Governor  was  reversed  by  his  successor,  and 
the  old  bad  system  of  marauding  on  one  side 
and  reprisals  on  the  other  went  on  until  it 
provoked  the  great  Kafir  rising  of  1834. 

That  rising  was  put  down  by  the   British 


PREFACE  xi 

Government,  but  the  effort  exhausted  its 
patience.  When  the  Boers  claimed  compen- 
sation for  their  losses  at  the  expense  of  the 
British  taxpayer,  they  were  told,  with  perhaps 
unnecessary  sharpness,  that  they  had  brought 
the  calamity  on  themselves  and  must  bear  the 
penalty.  They  then  determined  that  since  the 
British  Government  would  not  adequately  pro- 
tect their  individual  encroachments  they  would 
make  a  combined  effort  and  would  cross  the 
frontier  wholesale  to  form  a  new  settlement 
for  themselves,  where  their  peculiar  institutions 
might  flourish  unchecked.  They  migrated  in 
large  bodies  into  the  territory  that  is  now 
Natal. 

There  was  another  great  cause  of  discon- 
tent. The  Boers  of  Cape  Colony  had  reduced 
the  Hottentot  population  to  the  condition  of 
slaves,  and  with  the  Hottentot  women  had  pro- 
duced a  race  of  half-castes  known  as  Griquas. 
It  is  true  the  slavery  was  of  the  domestic  or 
predial  type  found  in  many  parts  of  the  world, 
but  the  British  public,  in  the  heat  of  the  abolition 
movement,  took  no  notice  of  such  a  distinction, 
as  a  great  part  of  it  refuses  to  do  to  this  day. 
Slavery  was  abolished,  rudely,  hastily,  and 


xii  PREFACE 

without  regard  to  the  complete  dislocation  of 
the  social  machinery  which  abolition  brought 
about ;  while,  to  crown  all,  the  promised  com- 
pensation— part  of  the  famous  twenty  millions 
— turned  out  ludicrously  disproportionate  to 
the  hopes  that  had  been  raised.  It  is  not 
the  only  instance  in  which  the  British  public 
have  gratified  their  emotions  at  the  expense 
of  other  people. 

Up  to  a  certain  point  the  early  history  of 
Natal  offers  a  curious  parallel  to  the  more 
recent  history  of  the  Transvaal.  In  the  two 
concluding  lectures  the  reader  will  see  how 
the  emigrating  Boers  came  into  contact  at 
once  with  the  Zulus  and  with  a  British  com- 
munity settled  at  Port  Natal ;  how  they  sought 
to  profit  by  British  assistance  and  yet  to  reject 
all  British  control ;  how  they  claimed  to  be 
an  independent  State  making  treaties  on  equal 
terms  with  this  country,  which  however  was 
to  have  the  unprofitable  privilege  of  defending 
them ;  how  they  expected  help  from  Holland, 
and  were  ready  to  give  that  country  a  Pro- 
tectorate ;  how  they  cut  to  pieces  a  small 
British  force ;  and  how  they  found  eventually 
that  there  was  more  British  force  to  reckon 


PREFACE  xiii 

with,  and  that  Great  Britain  would  never  con- 
sent to  relinquish  sovereignty  or  to  permit 
foreign  intrusion.  So  far  the  parallel  is  com- 
plete, though  the  scale  is  different.  In  Natal 
it  was  found  that  war,  instead  of  accentuating 
race  hatred,  laid  the  foundation  of  enduring 
peace.  Natal  is  now  a  prosperous  and  loyal 
British  colony,  and  but  for  a  change  of  govern- 
ors and  policy,  the  Orange  Free  State  would 
to-day  have  been  in  the  same  position.  There 
were  irreconcilables  of  course,  and  they 
trekked  into  the  Transvaal,  where  we  have 
missed  splendid  opportunities  of  repeating  our 
Natal  success.  Let  us  hope  that  a  united 
nation,  faced  by  what  has  grown  to  be  an 
Imperial  danger,  will  not  again  take  its  hand 
from  the  plough  until  the  furrow  is  cut  clean 
and  true. 

Under  the  wise  and  benign  rule  of  our 
gracious  Queen,  we  have  witnessed  immense 
progress  in  colonial  loyalty  as  well  as  in  con- 
ceptions of  Imperial  duty.  Cape  Colony,  the 
essential  loyalty  of  which  has  been  far  too 
lightly  called  in  question  by  superficial  ob- 
servers, forms,  together  with  Natal,  a  standing 
proof  that  men  of  Dutch  descent  as  well  as 


xiv  PREFACE 

others  can  find  under  the  British  flag  all  the 
conditions  of  prosperity  and  contentment. 
Once  rid  of  a  corrupt  and  arrogant  oligarchy, 
largely  of  extraneous  origin,  and  of  its  fantastic 
dreams  of  an  African  dominion,  there  is  no 
reason  to  doubt  that  the  mixed  races  of  the 
Transvaal  will  range  themselves  peaceably  side 
by  side  with  their  brethren  of  the  Cape  and 

of  Natal. 

WILLIAM  BRODRICK-CLOETE. 

LONDON,  October  2gth,  1899. 


I 


INTRODUCTION 
TO  THE  SECOND  EDITION 


SINCE  the  first  edition  of  this  reprint  appeared 
I  have  received  many  requests  for  some 
personal  information  concerning  its  author  and  the 
men  mentioned  in  the  book  as  more  immediately 
connected  with  him  in  the  great  work  of  pacifying 
Natal,  and  persuading  the  burghers  loyally  to  accept 
the  supremacy  of  Great  Britain.  Solely  in  deference 
to  these  representations  I  append  the  following 
observations,  which  after  this  warning  no  one  need 
read  unless  so  disposed. 

The  family  is  of  German  extraction,  and  their 
ancestry  of  knightly  Saxon  origin.  They  flourished 
in  the  sixteenth  century  in  the  Principality  of 
Nassau.  The  name  was  Cloeten — Cloeten  as  shown 
by  their  coat  of  arms,  "  Sachsische  Ritter "  Sib- 
machers  Wappenbuch  von  Jahre  1692,  vol.  i.  p.  171 
— Wiesbaden. 

Jacob  Cloeten  having  become  politically  obnoxious 
to  the  authorities,  fled  to  Holland,  and  to  escape 
the  consequences  of  his  ambitious  and  rebellious 
temperament  sailed  with  Jan  van  Riebeck — the  first 


xvi  THE   CLOETE   FAMILY 

Governor  of  the  Cape — and  landed  at  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope  on  the  6th  April,  1652.  His  name  heads 
the  list  as  one  of  the  first  seventeen  free  burghers ; 
and  as  he  was  a  man  of  family  and  education,  he 
naturally  took  a  leading  part  in  the  early  settlement 
of  the  Colony;  and  frequent  mention  of  his  name 
is  found  in  the  early  records.  In  the  return  made 
on  the  /th  May,  1660,  Jacob  Cloeten  appears  first 
on  the  list  of  landowners.  The  original  record  in 
the  Surveyor-General's  office  testifies  he  was  the 
first  landed  proprietor  in  the  Colony. 

His  eldest  son,  Gerhard,  born  in  1655,  married 
Catalyn  Harmans  of  Middlebourg,  and  is  mentioned 
in  the  records  as  having  gone  on  an  expedition  to  the 
Berg  River  to  kill  hippopotami  in  November,  1672, 
and  also  in  1686.  From  a  Resolution  passed  in 
Council,  dated  2nd  November,  1686,  he  is  awarded 
captured  cattle  as  "well  won  booty."  He  played 
a  prominent  part  in  the  constant  struggles  with  the 
natives,  which  fill  the  early  records  of  the  Colony. 

Gerhard's  son,  Jacob,  born  in  1675,  a  man  of  dis- 
tinction and  wealth,  married  Sibella  Passman,  and 
their  son,  Henry,  born  in  1726,  was  a  man  of  great 
ability  and  power,  who  became  the  largest  landed 
proprietor,  and  by  far  the  most  influential  man  in  the 
Colony.  He  married  Hester  Anne,  daughter  of  the 
Landrost  Laurence.  He  was  the  first  of  the  family 
that  wrote  the  name  Cloete,  having  discarded  the 
final  letter  "n."  He  died  in  1799,  leaving  the  ex- 
tensive properties  of  Constantia — which  was  entailed 


JOSIAS   CLOETE  xvii 

by  special  act  of  Council — Noitgedacht,  Zandvleit, 
Rustemberg,  etc. ;  also  the  great  cattle  farms  at  The 
Hope  in  the  Swellendam  district,  and  seven  other 
properties  in  Graaf  Reinet  district. 

His  son,  Pieter  Laurence,  born  in  1766,  married 
Catherine  Maria  van  Rienen,  daughter  of  the 
Senator  Jacob  van  Rienen,  whose  only  son  became 
a  General  Officer  in  the  Dutch  East  India  Service, 
and  whose  remaining  daughters  married  respectively 
General  Hawkshaw  and  Admiral  Donald  Campbell. 
When  the  Colony  was  finally  taken  over  by  this 
country,  the  Hon.  Pieter  Laurence  Cloete  was  the 
Treasurer-General  of  the  Colony  and  the  first  and 
senior  member  of  the  Legislative  Council  at  the 
Cape,  and  his  far-reaching  influence  and  sterling 
qualities  went  a  long  way  to  smoothing  over  the 
difficulties  attending  the  change  of  allegiance. 

In  April,  1803,  his  two  eldest  sons — Henry,  born 
in  1790,  and  Josias  in  1794 — were  sent  to  Holland 
to  be  educated.  When  the  ship  which  carried  them 
reached  the  Channel  war  had  again  broken  out,  and 
it  required  all  the  ingenuity  of  the  captain,  Stewart, 
to  escape  capture  by  hostile  cruisers.  He  succeeded 
in  this  by  hoisting  the  Prussian  flag  and  shaping  his 
course  for  Emden,  instead  of  entering  a  Dutch  port. 
From  the  Dollart,  where  the  boys  were  landed,  they 
were  forwarded  to  their  guardian  at  Utrecht,  where 
they  were  at  school  during  1804  and  1805  ;  and  in 
1806  they  were  sent  to  Naarden  to  the  clerical  estab- 
lishment of  the  Rev.  Ulrick  Anosi,  an  eminent  divine 


xviii  THE   CLOETE   FAMILY 

of  the  French  Protestant  Church,  and  here,  under 
the  tuition  of  this  highly  gifted  pastor,  aided  by  an 
able  officer  of  engineers,  Captain  Geyler,  they  re- 
ceived the  foundation  of  the  education  that  proved 
of  such  value  in  after  years. 

In  1809  orders  were  sent  for  the  youths  to  go  to 
England  to  the  Military  College  at  Marlow,  prepara- 
tory to  receiving  commissions  in  the  British  Army, 
which  had  been  promised.  The  eldest  son,  Henry, 
having  shown  exceptional  academical  talents,  it  was 
considered  wiser  to  complete  his  education  at  the 
Leyden  University,  and  he  was  sent  there  ;  while 
his  younger  brother,  Josias,  whom  we  will  follow  for 
the  present,  was  with  great  difficulty  transported  to 
England,  in  spite  of  the  heavy  penalties  attached  to 
any  attempt  at  breaking  through  Napoleon's  "  non- 
intercourse  decrees."  A  large  sum  of  money  was 
paid  to  the  agents  who  succeeded  in  smuggling  him 
on  to  a  fishing  smack  lying  in  the  Maas.  Thence 
he  was  forwarded  to  England,  where  the  Duke  of 
Cumberland  gave  him  a  commission  in  his  own 
regiment,  the  I5th  Hussars.  He  became  A.D.C.  to 
Lord  Charles  Somerset,  who  commanded  at  the  Cape, 
and  was  placed  in  command  of  the  expedition  which 
took  possession  of  Tristan  D'Acunha.  In  1817  and 
1819  he  commanded  a  field  force  in  the  Mahratta 
War,  and  was  employed  on  the  staff  for  forty-six 
years,  serving  in  every  possible  capacity,  from  an 
A.D.C.  to  the  important  office  of  Quartermaster- 
General  and  Chief  of  the  Staff.  During  three  years 


HENRY   CLOETE  xix 

of  active  operations  in  the  field  he  performed  the 
combined  duties  of  Adjutant-General  and  Quarter- 
master-General. In  1820  he  carried  out  an  exten- 
sive measure  of  emigration  along  the  frontier  of  the 
Colony,  and  settled  a  serious  question  of  Kaffir  policy 
with  the  envoys  of  the  Zulu  chief,  Chaka.  In  1842 
he  was  specially  selected  to  command  an  expedition 
sent  to  Natal,  where  the  emigrant  Boers  under 
Pretorius,  after  defeating  our  troops,  held  Captain 
Smith's  detachment  besieged,  as  narrated  in  this 
volume.  Colonel  Cloete's  success  in  this  expedition, 
which  paved  the  way  for  the  final  settlement  of 
Natal,  led  him  to  be  recommended  for  the  C.B., 
which  was  subsequently  given  him  by  the  Duke  of 
Wellington  in  person.  He  had  already  received  the 
Hanoverian  Guelphic  Order  from  the  hands  of  King 
William  IV.,  who  was  a  personal  friend  of  his ;  and 
in  1850  he  was  made  a  K.C.B.  by  Her  Majesty 
Queen  Victoria. 

Henry  Cloete,  after  completing  the  University 
course  at  Leyden,  where  he  obtained  the  highest 
honours,  was  captured  by  Napoleon  on  his  way  to 
England,  but  refused  to  give  parole,  and  escaped  by 
means  of  a  heavy  payment  to  the  owner  of  a  French 
fishing  smack  to  sail  with  him  at  night.  He  had  a 
perilous  escape,  as  his  flight  having  been  discovered, 
the  boat  was  thoroughly  searched  as  she  was  starting. 
He  had  been  carefully  covered  up  with  turf  and  peat, 
and  despite  the  fact  that  the  soldiers  thrust  their 
bayonets  into  the  peat  he  escaped  untouched.  The 


xx  THE   CLOETE  FAMILY 

next  morning,  when  they  were  well  out  in  the  Channel, 
an  English  man-of-war  bore  down  on  them,  and  they 
were  captured.  On  being  taken  on  board  of  the 
man-of-war  Henry  Cloete  found,  to  his  delight,  that 
his  uncle  (by  marriage),  Donald  Campbell,  com- 
manded her.  Being  safely  landed  in  England  he 
joined  Lincoln's  Inn,  and  after  the  usual  course  of 
study,  in  which  he  showed  exceptional  ability,  he  was 
called  to  the  Bar. 

In  1813  he  sailed  for  the  Cape  in  the  ill-fated 
ship  Java,  which  was  captured  after  a  stubborn 
fight  by  the  United  States  ship  Constitution,  and 
then  blown  up.  ( Vide  JAMES*  Naval  History?)  On 
the  Constitution  he  was  treated  with  the  greatest 
kindness  and  consideration  by  the  American  captain 
and  officers,  and  was  taken  to  Rio  Janeiro,  where 
he  was  landed.  From  Rio  he  succeeded  in  sailing 
to  the  Cape,  where  he  landed  without  further 
mishap. 

In  1816  he  married  Christian  Helen  Graham,  the 
daughter  of  Robert  Graham,  Esq.,  of  Fintry  (the 
staunch  friend  and  protector  of  Robert  Burns),  and 
the  lineal  descendant  of  Sir  William  Graham,  Lord 
of  Kincardine,  and  of  Marjorie,  daughter  of  King 
Robert  III.  of  Scotland. 

Henry  Cloete  became  a  distinguished  barrister, 
and  his  career  at  the  Bar  was  one  of  pre-eminent 
success.  He  was  the  leading  member  of  the  Legis- 
lative Council,  and,  as  stated  in  the  following  pages, 
was  appointed  Her  Majesty's  Commissioner  in  1843 


HENRY  CLOETE  xxi 

for  the  settlement  of  affairs  in  Natal.  After  his 
work  as  Commissioner  was  completed,  he  was 
appointed  recorder  and  sole  judge  for  the  newly- 
acquired  Colony,  and,  after  ten  years'  service,  was 
appointed  a  puisne  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  Cape,  from  which  he  retired  at  the  advanced 
age  of  seventy-two,  amid  universal  expressions  of 
regret,  both  from  the  Bar  and  the  public.  As  a 
judge,  he  commanded  the  highest  respect,  and  some 
of  his  decisions  may  be  found  quoted  in  English 
text-books.  As  a  man  he  inspired  unbounded  con- 
fidence, and  exercised  enormous  influence  alike  over 
Dutch  and  English.  He  was  master  of  a  singularly 
persuasive  style  of  oratory,  to  the  force  and  charm  of 
which  the  Boer  leaders  themselves  have  borne  em- 
phatic testimony.  By  sheer  strength  of  character  and 
intellectual  ability,  he  became  one  of  the  most  influen- 
tial personalities  in  South  Africa,  and  but  for  the  want 
of  foresight  of  the  Colonial  Office,  would  unques- 
tionably have  settled  the  Orange  Free  State  in  the 
same  manner  as  he  settled  Natal.  He  was  a  ripe 
scholar,  and  the  classic  authors  remained  the  com- 
panions of  his  leisure  through  life,  while  he  was 
no  mean  proficient  in  music  and  in  painting.  His 
abilities  were  always  loyally  placed  at  the  disposal 
of  the  British  Government,  though  its  inconsistent 
and  vacillating  policy  must  often  have  caused  him 
acute  distress.  One  subject  of  profound  disagreement 
was  the  refusal  of  the  Government  to  comply  with 
his  repeated  advice  to  take  Delagoa  Bay,  the  value 


xxii  THE   CLOETE   FAMILY 

of  which  as  the  key  to  a  large  area  of  the  interior  he 
vainly  endeavoured  to  get  them  to  recognise.  His 
eldest  son,  Laurence  Graham  Cloete,  was  my  father. 

The  only  other  actor  in  the  scenes  described  in 
the  book  whom  I  need  mention  is  my  grand-uncle, 
Colonel  John  Graham,  who,  by  the  death  of  his 
brother,  an  officer  in  the  British  Service,  killed  in 
India,  became  thirteenth  of  Fintry.  He  served  for 
many  years  during  the  Peninsular  War  in  the  QOth 
and  93rd  Regiments  under  Sir  Thomas  Graham — 
Lord  Lynedoch — and  was  afterwards  employed  in 
the  Kaffir  wars  at  the  Cape,  where  he  gained  great 
distinction.  Grahamstown,  the  capital  of  the  eastern 
province,  was  named  in  his  honour.  His  career  was 
unfortunately  a  brief  one,  since  he  died  at  the  early 
age  of  forty-two  of  exposure  and  fatigue,  endured 
in  the  conscientious  discharge  of  a  soldier's  duty.  I 
may,  perhaps,  be  permitted  in  conclusion  to  remark 
that  the  devotion  of  the  family  to  the  British  Crown 
in  the  past  has  been  one  of  the  strongest  influences 
in  warding  off  the  aggressions  of  the  Kaffir  and 
native  tribes,  as  well  as  quelling  the  dissatisfaction 
and  ambitions  of  the  Boer  element. 

W.  BRODRICK-CLOETE. 

November  ytih,  1899. 


CONTENTS 

LECTURE  I, 

THE   FIRST   BOER   REBELLION. 

FAGS 

An  irreparable  loss — Boundaries  of  Cape  Colony — A  wandering 
race — The  first  Kafir  war — A  serious  grievance — Over-zealous 
missionaries — Unfounded  charges — A  lawless  district — The 
penalty  of  obstinacy — Beginning  of  the  rebellion — Failure  of 
negotiations — End  of  the  rebellion — Execution  of  the  leaders 
— An  indelible  impression — Colonial  government  .  . .  I 

LECTURE  II. 

THREE  GREAT  GRIEVANCES. 

Hatred  against  missionaries — Missionaries  and  the  natives — The 
Hottentot  difficulty — Bushmen  as  shepherds — Evil  influence^ 
of  missionaries — Slavery  in  Cape  Colony — Unpopular  restric- 
tions— Protest  of  slave-owners — Proposals  for  gradual  aboli- 
tion— Appraisement  of  slaves — Grievances  of  slave-owners — 
Results  of  abolition — Encroachment  by  Kafirs — A  temporary 
check — Defeat  of  the  Kafirs — An  unsatisfactory  treaty — A 
reversal  of  policy — Zulu  invasion  of  Kafirland — A  state  of 
unrest — A  Dutch  exploring  party  .  .  •  •  33 

LECTURE  III. 

SEEKING  A  NEW  HOME. 

A  peaceful  policy — The  Kafirs  invade  Cape  Colony — Governor 
D'Urban's  plan — An  astounding  declaration — Insult  and  in- 
jury— The  beginning  of  the  trek — Attacked  by  the  Matabelee 
— Pieter  Relief — Acquisition  of  territory — Treachery  of  Din- 
gaan — Attacked  by  Zoolahs — A  fearful  catastrophe — Attemp- 
ted retaliation — The  Boers  in  distress — Pieter  Relief  avenged 
— Disarmament  of  the  Boers — An  unlooked-for  event — 
Alliance  with  Panda — Declaration  of  sovereignty — A  sym- 
pathetic address — The  goal  attained  .  .  •  •  75 


xxiv  CONTENTS 

LECTURE  IV. 

THE   BOERS   IN   NATAL. 

PAGE 

Historical  misrepresentation— Boer  proclamation  of  supremacy — 
Their  strong  republican  feeling — Preparing  a  state  of  anarchy 
— Petition  to  the  Governor — Terms  of  proposed  alliance — 
Unjustifiable  attack  on  natives — Attempted  vindication — 
Claim  for  independence— Protest  against  British  supremacy 
— Boer  credulity — Appeal  to  Holland — Arrival  of  military 
force  in  Natal — Night  attack  on  the  Boers — The  Boers  pre- 
pared— Preparing  for  defence — The  British  troops  besieged 
— The  last  acts  of  the  drama  .  .  .  .  123 

LECTURE  V. 

SUBMISSION  TO  THE  CROWN. 

Succour  for  the  besieged — Murder  by  Kafir  auxiliaries — Resolu- 
tions of  the  Volksraad — An  important  declaration — A  satis- 
factory settlement — Appointment  of  a  Commissioner — His 
meeting  with  the  Boers — Activity  of  the  war  party — Com- 
missioner and  Volksraad — The  Volksraad  divided — Wise 
counsels  prevail — Withdrawals  from  the  Volksraad — Lord 
Stanley's  despatch — The  terms  accepted — Accepting  the 
inevitable — A  new  Governor — The  blessings  of  peace  .  160 


THE    HISTORY   OF   THE 

GREAT   BOER    TREK 

LECTURE    I. 

THE    FIRST  BOER   REBELLION 

THE  voluntary  expatriation  of  the  Dutch  farmers 
of  the  Cape  Colony,  and  their  wanderings 
throughout  the  wilds  of  South-Eastern  Africa,  which 
ultimately  led  to  their  occupation  of  this  district 
of  Natal,  are  so  singular  in  their  character,  and  are 
likely  to  bear  such  important  results  upon  the  ex- 
ploration and  further  knowledge  of  this  vast  con- 
tinent, that  it  has  appeared  to  me  not  uninteresting 
to  note  down,  and  thus  to  commemorate,  the  principal 
causes  which  led  to  this  migration ;  more  particularly 
as,  from  the  party-spirit  which  always  prevails  at  the 
very  time  of  such  political  movements,  the  most 
distorted,  one-sided,  and  false  views  are  generally 
taken  of  the  motives  and  objects  of  the  principal 
actors  engaged  therein  ;  and  it  is  only  after  the  lapse 
of  years,  when  time  has  somewhat  soothed  down  the 


2  THE  FIRST  BOER  REBELLION         [LECT. 

passions,  and  calm  reason  has  resumed  its  sway,  that 
it  becomes  possible  to  obtain  and  impart  a  perfectly 
dispassionate  insight  into  such  events. 

I  should  also  add,  that  I  would  at  once  refrain 
from  entering  upon  this  subject  if  anything  like 
political  discussion  can  be  apprehended  from  such  an 
inquiry  ;  but  as  the  chief  actors  whose  names  are 
mixed  up  in  these  occurrences  are  long  since  departed 
to  that  "bourn  from  whence  no  traveller  returns," 
and  as  the  grave  questions  which  mainly  produced 
that  migration  have  also  for  ever  ceased,  I  hope  that 
I  may  now  venture  to  touch  upon  them  "as  mere 
matters  of  history":  happy,  if  a  retrospect  of  those 
events  may  tend  to  enlighten  rulers  in  general  in  the 
greatest  of  all  human  sciences,  that  of  governing  a 
people  for  their  real  welfare;  and  more  happy  still, 
if  my  remarks  upon  them  may  produce  a  kindly 
spirit  of  good-will  between  our  old  colonists  and  our 
recently  settled  immigrants  ;  inform  the  latter  of  the 
hardships  and  vicissitudes  which  the  former  had  to 
suffer  to  obtain  possession  of  this  favoured  land, 
and  thus  induce  them  to  look,  at  least  without  envy 
or  jealousy,  upon  the  advantages  which  (as  regards 
the  possession  of  lands)  the  former  have  purchased 
by  the  blood  of  their  parents  and  relatives. 

No  one  will  deny  that  any  causes  which  would 
have  led  to  the  expatriation  (not  of  single  individuals 
merely,  but)  of  entire  clans — at  the  head  of  which 
such  names  appear  as  those  of  Retief,  Uys,  and 
Maritz ;  of  Potgieter,  Landman,  and  Duplessis ;  and 


I.]  AN    IRREPARABLE   LOSS  3 

of  Zietsman,  Boshoff,  and  Otto — must  ever  be  viewed 
as  producing  a  serious  national  calamity  upon  any 
country:  that  the  departure  of  such  men,  taking  with 
them  their  entire  families  and  properties,  has  tended 
very  seriously  to  affect  and  impair  the  strength  of 
the  eastern  province  of  the  Cape  Colony,  in  the 
contests  with  the  Kafir  races  ;  and  that,  although 
in  the  course  of  years  some  such  families  may  be 
replaced,  yet  the  words  of  the  sweet,  descriptive 
poet  will  in  this  case  be  found  fully  verified,  viz., 
that 

"  Princes  and  lords  may  flourish  and  may  fade, 
A  breath  may  make  them,  as  a  breath  has  made  ; 
But  a  bold  peasantry,  their  country's  pride, 
When  once  destroyed  can  never  be  supplied." 

Having  always  felt  a  deep  interest  in  the  affairs 
of  that  colony,  having  been  personally  known  to 
many  of  those  earliest  immigrants,  among  whom 
I  counted  some  of  my  oldest  and  best  friends, 
and  having,  moreover,  personally  witnessed  several 
of  those  events  which  led  to  this  expatriation,  I 
may  be  permitted,  I  trust,  to  enter  into  some  of 
those  details  which  were  so  well  known  to  me 
without  subjecting  myself  to  the  charge  of  making 
them  now  a  subject  of  political  controversy,  my 
sole  object  being  to  recall  to  memory  some  of 
those  events  which  at  the  time  were  fraught  with 
great  public  interest,  and  for  which  I  think  the 
time  is  fully  come  to  rescue  them  from  oblivion, 
as  I  feel  confident  that  the  mere  recital  of  them 


4  THE   FIRST   BOER  REBELLION          [LECT. 

will  now  tend  only  to  foster  between  us  all  a 
more  friendly  spirit,  by  producing  a  more  correct 
acquaintance  with  each  other's  public  history. 

The  first  cause  of  the  Cape  colonists  passing 
beyond  the  boundaries  of  that  colony,  and  entering 
as  pioneers  into  the  wilds  of  the  South  African 
continent,  is  no  doubt  traceable  to  the  inherent 
roving  disposition  of  man  in  general ;  but  more 
particularly  of  those  descendants  of  Saxon  origin, 
to  whom,  a  thousand  years  ago,  the  wide  range  of  the 
European  continent  was  found  insufficient  to  gratify 
their  wandering  propensities. 

The  Dutch  Governor,  Van  Plettenberg,  had 
formally  defined  the  boundaries  of  the  Cape  Colony, 
in  the  year  1778,  by  the  Great  Fish  River  to  the 
eastward,  and  by  an  ideal  line*  running  through 
(what  are  now  called)  the  districts  of  Somerset, 
Graaff-Reinet,  Beaufort,  and  Clanwilliam,  up  to  a 
little  rivulet,  "  the  Koussie,"  flowing  into  the  Southern 
Atlantic,  to  the  north-west ;  but  for  nearly  forty 
years  these  boundaries  were  far  better  respected  by 
the  colonists  meeting  at  the  eastern  frontier  the 
warlike  and  independent  race  of  the  Amakoze"e, 
who,  far  from  allowing  any  inroads  upon  their  own 
territories,  commenced  a  system  of  aggression  upon 
our  colonists,  which  extended  over  the  greatest  part 

*  By  a  proclamation  of  Sir  Harry  Smith,  dated  I7th  December, 
1847,  and  confirmed  by  Her  Majesty,  the  northern  boundaries  of  the 
Cape  Colony  have  been  brought  up  to  the  banks  of  the  Great  Orange 
River. 


I.]  BOUNDARIES   OF   CAPE   COLONY  5 

of  the  Graaff-Reinet  and  Uitenhage  districts,  from 
which  they  were  not  finally  expelled  until  the 
year  1812.  This  system  of  aggression  they  have 
never  abandoned,  but  on  the  contrary  have  per- 
severingly  carried  on  for  nearly  seventy  years,  each 
succeeding  war  having  only  formed  them  into  a 
more  dangerous,  experienced,  and  vindictive  foe. 
Along  this  extensive  northern  line  the  colonists 
also  found  little  temptation  to  transgress  those 
boundaries,  from  the  arid  deserts  skirting  the 
southern  banks  of  the  Great  Orange  River,  where 
a  few  isolated  Bushmen,  the  very  outcasts  of  the 
human  race,  seemed  to  verify  the  fabulous  accounts 
of  the  "  Troglodytes  "  of  Africa,  living,  as  they  were, 
in  holes  and  caves,  hardly  able  to  procure  a  scanty 
subsistence  from  the  wild  animals  of  the  desert  and 
from  a  few  bulbous  roots  of  the  earth.  These  com- 
bined causes  kept  our  Cape  colonists  for  many  years 
within  the  prescribed  boundaries ;  but  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  present  century  small  parties  of  a 
half-caste  breed  of  European  and  Hottentot  origin, 
mixing  with  the  Mantatees,  gradually  occupied  the 
lands  beyond  the  Orange  River,  at  the  north-east 
boundary  of  the  Cape  Colony,  and  from  them  the 
race  of  what  were  called  the  Griquas  was  formed, 
with  whom  the  colonists  opened  a  regular  inter- 
course, as  they  soon  found  that  in  seasons  of 
excessive  drought  within  the  colony  (where  their 
herds  and  flocks  were  dying  for  want  of  pasture) 
the  lands  to  the  northward  of  the  Orange  River 


6  THE   FIRST   BOER   REBELLION          [LECT. 

were  generally  favoured  with  more  frequent  and 
regular  thunderstorms,  thus  ensuring  a  better  supply 
of  grass  during  the  summer  months  than  the  colony 
afforded.  From  that  moment  all  the  grazing  farmers 
in  that  neighbourhood  began  to  form  establishments 
in  the  country  between  the  Orange  and  Vaal  Rivers 
(the  Kye  and  the  Knu  Gariep),  and  took  possession 
of  such  tracts  as  they  found  unoccupied,  or  otherwise 
entered  into  regular  leases  with  the  prior  occupants 
of  those  lands ;  but  they  still  continued  to  consider 
their  domicile  to  be  within  the  colony,  to  which 
they  returned  whenever  the  seasons  of  drought 
had  passed  away,  or  whenever  called  upon  to  pay 
their  "opgaaf,"  or  annual  assessed  taxes,  and  did 
not  for  a  moment  consider  themselves  as  absolved 
from  the  duties  and  ties  which  bound  them  to  the 
old  colony. 

This  wandering  habit,  thus  kept  up  and  promoted 
by  the  vicissitudes  and  the  periodical  seasons  of 
drought,  was  still  further  confirmed  by  the  very 
tenure  and  extent  of  the  lands  granted  to  them 
within  the  colony. 

The  loan  farms  (subsequently  converted  into  quit- 
rent  lands)  granted  in  areas  never  less  than  6000 
acres,  but  in  those  districts  frequently  to  15,000  and 
20,000  acres — while  somewhat  justified  by  the  aridity 
of  the  soil  and  the  want  of  permanent  springs — yet 
confirmed  the  colonists  more  and  more  in  their 
purely  pastoral  or  nomad  habits,  which  gradually 
weaned  them  from  all  desire  to  cultivate  their  lands ; 


I.]  A  WANDERING   RACE  7 

and,  consequently,  deadened  that  affection  and  attach- 
ment to  a  particular  locality  which  is  the  natural 
result  of  agriculture  and  the  improvement  of  the  soil. 
On  the  contrary,  with  them  their  flocks  and  herds 
constituted  their  sole  care  and  delight.  Whenever 
these  increased  and  multiplied  they  were  content 
and  happy ;  but  the  moment  these  suffered  they 
were  as  ready  as  the  patriarchs  of  old  to  strike  their 
tents,  or  rather  to  pack  up  their  waggons,  and  to  go 
forth,  either  to  the  right  hand  or  to  the  left,  and 
to  search  for  lands  where  late  rains  promised  more 
abundant  grass  and  water  for  their  cattle. 

It  is  important  to  keep  this  constantly  in  view,  as 
explaining,  from  inherent  causes,  the  facility  and 
rapidity  with  which  those  migrations  took  place, 
and  the  unconcern  with  which,  even  to  this  day, 
many  of  our  colonists  are  ready  to  flit  from  one 
district  to  another,  for  the  most  (apparently)  frivolous 
reasons,  taking  their  chance  to  find  sufficient  or 
better  lands  in  the  further  wilds  of  Africa  ;  and  from 
these  data  we  are,  I  think,  warranted  in  drawing 
this  apparently  paradoxical  conclusion :  that  the 
very  possession  of  large  tracts  of  country  in  the 
hands  of  single  individuals  lessens  in  them  the  affec- 
tion for  particular  localities,  that  it  fosters  and 
encourages  a  wandering  and  pastoral  life,  which  is 
at  once  opposed  to  that  steady  cultivation  of  the  soil, 
which  alone  leads  to  the  permanent  improvement 
of  a  country ;  that  it  is  opposed  to  all  outlay  of 
capital  and  labour,  whereby  alone  even  the  most 


8  THE  FIRST  BOER  REBELLION          [LECT. 

fertile  soils  are  improved  and  rendered  productive ; 
and  that,  in  so  far,  such  extensive  grants  will  ever 
prove  opposed  to  civilisation  and  the  true  interests 
of  any  country. 

But  other  causes,  nearly  forty  years  ago,  began 
to  prepare  this  important  movement :  in  these  I 
happened  to  be  somewhat  mixed  up ;  and  as  these 
particulars  are  not  generally  known,  I  believe  their 
recital  will  prove  of  sufficient  interest  to  claim  your 
attention. 

In  the  year  1813,  on  my  return  to  the  Cape 
Colony,  I  may  assert  with  perfect  truth  that  I  found 
it  enjoying  such  a  state  of  general  prosperity  and 
social  happiness  as  rarely  falls  to  the  lot  of  any 
colony,  and  has  certainly  not  been  felt  in  that  colony 
before  or  after  that  period.  The  mild  and  con- 
ciliatory administration  of  the  Earl  of  Caledon,  his 
personally  cordial  and  frank  intercourse  with  all 
classes  of  society,  and  his  princely  hospitality, 
cemented  and  kept  up  the  most  friendly  bond  of 
union  between  the  governor  and  governed,  between 
the  colonists  and  the  English  immigrants,  and  literally 
transformed  all  ranks  of  society  into  one  family,  to 
which  the  spirit  of  party,  of  jealousy,  or  of  distinction 
of  race  was  utterly  unknown  ;  and  anyone  who  at 
that  time  would  have  entertained  a  thought  of 
creating  such  distinctions  would  have  been  scouted 
and  marked  as  an  enemy  to  the  public  welfare  and 
to  society.  Lord  Caledon's  successor,  Sir  John 
Cradock  (afterwards  created  Lord  Howden),  and 


I.]  THE   FIRST   KAFIR  WAR  9 

his  fascinating  consort,  Lady  Theodosia,  continued 
to  keep  up  that  hospitality,  and  to  render  the 
government  both  efficient  and  popular. 

An  end  had  just  been  put  to  the  first  Kafir  war,  in 
which  the  Cape  colonists,  with  the  aid  of  a  small 
military  force  under  the  command  of  my  never-to-be- 
forgotten  brother-in-law,  Col.  Graham,  had  expelled 
the  Kafirs  from  our  own  territory,  and  a  line  of 
stockaded  forts  placed  at  a  distance  of  from  twenty 
to  twenty-five  miles  from  each  other  along  the  whole 
extent  of  our  eastern  boundary  had  effectually 
secured  our  inhabitants  from  the  aggression  of  a 
single  marauding  Kafir,  upon  whom  instant  death 
had  been  solemnly  denounced  as  the  penalty  of  their 
transgressing  our  boundary. 

At  that  time  also  an  army  of  about  4000  or  5000 
men  (among  whom  was  one  body  of  cavalry  nearly 
1000  strong),  headed  by  a  numerous  staff,  effectually 
secured  our  coasts  from  foreign  foes,  and  our  terri- 
tories within  the  colony ;  and  being  maintained  in 
a  high  state  of  discipline,  not  only  tended  to  promote 
the  pleasures  of  society,  but  entailing  a  vast  military 
expenditure,  stimulated  agriculture  and  commerce 
to  such  an  extent  that  the  colony  bore,  without 
grudging  or  complaint,  an  expenditure  which  at 
the  present  day  must  appear  hardly  credible. 

The  Governor  of  that  colony  was  then  receiving 
out  of  the  colonial  revenue  as — 

Civil  Governor  only  .  .         .;£  12,000 

A  Lieutenant-Governor      .  .         .        3000 


io  THE  FIRST  BOER  REBELLION         [LECT. 

A  Secretary  to  Government  .  .  ^3000 
A  Dep.  Secretary  ^1500,  but  with  per- 
quisites bringing  it  up  to  .  .  3000 
A  Collector  of  Customs  .  .  .  1200 
A  Comptroller  of  Customs  .  .  1000 
A  Treasurer-General  .  .  .  1200 
An  Auditor-General  •  .  .  1000 
A  Paymaster-General  .  .  .  1000 

and  on  this  same  scale  some  ten  or  twelve  officials 
alone  (who  were  paid  in  sterling  according  to  the 
rate  of  exchange  on  the  pay  day)  received  out  of  the 
colonial  revenue  upwards  of  ^"30,000  per  annum  ;  * 
which  heavy  burthen  upon  the  colony  (although  not 
then  seriously  felt)  no  doubt  laid  the  foundation 
of  great  subsequent  distress,  and  of  many  difficulties 
into  which  the  Colonial  Government  was  thrown 
when  the  general  peace  in  1815  brought  about  a 
vast  reduction  in  the  military  expenditure,  and  the 
withdrawal  of  almost  all  the  troops ;  when  trade 

*  These  appointments  emanated  from  the  Colonial  Office,  and  their 
salaries  were  fixed  in  sterling  money,  but  having  to  be  paid  in  paper 
currency  (the  only  circulating  medium  within  the  Colony),  these 
officials  obtained  payment  according  to  the  rate  of  exchange  at  the 
time  of  receiving  their  salaries.  As  these  salaries  became  payable 
on  the  first  of  each  month,  the  Governor  (who  alone  received  £1000 
per  month)  directed  the  Commissary-General  to  draw  bills  on  England 
towards  the  close  of  the  prior  month,  and  to  tender  these  to  the  highest 
bidders  for  such  bills.  The  payment  of  the  sterling  salaries  for  the  first 
of  the  following  month  was  fixed  on  an  average  of  the  three  highest 
tenders  received  by  the  Commissariat  the  week  before,  and  it  was 
remarked  that  several  of  these  sterling  officials  having  to  make  re- 
mittances to  their  families  or  creditors  at  home,  their  tenders  for  bills 
were  always  at  the  highest  rate  of  exchange  (but  generally  to  a  small 
amount),  which  invariably  helped  to  fix  the  average. 


i.]  A  SERIOUS   GRIEVANCE  11 

became  paralysed,  and  when  the  repeated  and  urgent 
petitions  from  the  inhabitants  at  length  brought 
about  a  reduction  of  those  extravagant  salaries,  and 
led  to  a  more  uniform  and  well-arranged  system  in 
the  payment  of  public  servants. 

One  serious  grievance  was,  however,  generally 
felt,  which,  from  the  unsettled  state  in  which  the 
colony  had  been  during  the  last  ten  years  (having 
passed  during  that  time  through  three  successive 
and  different  governments — the  British,  the  Dutch, 
and  again  the  British),  there  had  been  no  fit  oppor- 
tunity for  remedying.  This  grievance  was  the  want 
of  an  efficient  and  impartial  administration  of  justice 
throughout  the  country  districts.  The  Supreme 
Court  at  Cape  Town  could  alone  take  cognizance 
of  any  serious  civil  or  criminal  case  arising  in  any 
part  of  the  colony :  there  was  hardly  any  regular 
communication  with  the  interior,  and  although  the 
boards  of  Landdrost  and  Heemraden  in  each  district 
could  take  cognizance  of  minor  offences  and  civil 
suits  of  a  limited  amount,  yet  it  was  notorious  that 
from  the  vast  extent  of  the  two  districts  of  Graaff- 
Reinet  and  Uitenhage  (which  then  embraced  one- 
half  of  the  colony)  access  to  these  two  tribunals 
was  exceedingly  difficult  and  precarious.  The 
absence  of  the  two  Landdrosts,  who  at  stated 
intervals  were  required  to  visit  every  part  of  their 
districts,  and  the  commandos  against  Kafirs,  Bush- 
men, or  others,  which  were  frequently  called  out, 
and  in  which  they  generally  took  part,  gave  any 


12  THE  FIRST  BOER  REBELLION         [LECT. 

suitor  a  very  doubtful  chance  of  ever  finding  the 
Landdrost  on  his  judgment-seat,  but  on  the  contrary 
his  place  there  was  frequently  occupied  by  a  worthy 
yeoman,  who,  as  one  of  the  Heemraden,  officiated 
for  him,  but  who  was  generally  totally  unfit  to  decide 
any  important  legal  question  between  man  and  man. 

The  time  appeared  then  to  have  arrived  to  remedy 
this  evil,  and  one  of  the  most  important  and  bene- 
ficial acts  of  Lord  Caledon's  government  was  his 
directing  that  two  of  the  members  of  the  Supreme 
Court  should  annually  visit  as  "  a  Commission  of 
Circuit "  every  distict  in  the  colony,  and  there  hold 
a  court,  with  all  such  powers  and  authorities  as  were 
possessed  by  the  Supreme  Court,  with  liberty  to 
refer  any  case  for  final  determination  to  the  Supreme 
Court,  in  like  manner  as  at  present  prevails  in  regard 
to  the  District  Court  here  and  the  Supreme  Court 
of  Cape  Town. 

But  it  cannot  be  denied,  and  experience  soon 
showed,  that  justice,  by  being  brought  so  much 
nearer  to  their  homes,  also  brought  to  light  various 
offences  which,  from  the  sparseness  of  the  population 
and  the  difficulty  of  obtaining  redress,  had  hitherto 
remained  unexamined  and  unpunished  ;  and  the  very 
first  circuit  which  proceeded  through  the  colony  was 
furnished  with  a  calendar  containing  between  seventy 
and  eighty  cases,  of  murders,  aggravated  assault,  and 
the  like,  which  the  missionaries,  Dr.  Van  der  Kemp 
and  the  Rev.  J.  Read,  constituting  themselves  the 
protectors  of  the  Hottentot  race,  and  who  had  then 


I.]  OVER-ZEALOUS    MISSIONARIES  13 

established  the  first  missionary  school  or  location 
on  the  frontier  (at  Bethelsdorp),  deliberately  brought 
forward  and  transmitted  to  the  local  Government 
as  charges  against  the  members  of  almost  every 
respectable  family  on  the  frontier. 

The  Government,  of  course,  referred  those  charges 
to  the  Commission  of  Circuit,  with  directions  to 
institute  a  searching  inquiry  into  them  all,  and 
this  duty  occupied  the  first  commission  for  several 
months  ;  but  from  the  difficulty  of  getting  up  the 
witnesses  and  sifting  the  preparatory  examinations 
a  number  of  these  cases  had  to  stand  over  for  the 
following  Circuit  Court,  and  it  was  not  until  the 
sitting  of  the  third  Circuit  Court  (at  which  I 
officiated  as  Registrar)  that  the  last  cases  on  that 
fearful  calendar  were  finally  disposed  of;  and  it  is 
but  just  to  add  that  of  the  long  list  of  atrocious 
crimes  thus  inquired  into  with  the  utmost  care 
and  impartiality  not  one  single  instance  of  murder 
was  proved  against  the  accused,  although  in  a  few 
cases  acts  of  personal  assault  and  transgression  of 
some  colonial  law  were  brought  home  to  them,  and 
punished  accordingly. 

As  a  curious  instance  of  the  extent  to  which  some 
of  these  informations  had  been  received,  and  had 
been  readily  adopted  by  the  missionaries  Van  der 
Kemp  and  Read,  without  properly  investigating 
them  before  bringing  forward  such  serious  criminal 
charges,  I  may  mention  that  at  Uitenhage  a  widow 
of  one  of  the  most  respectable  inhabitants  in  the 


14  THE   FIRST  BOER  REBELLION         [LECT. 

district  was  tried  on  the  charge  of  wilful  murder, 
for  having  ordered  a  young  Hottentot  some  years 
before  to  be  brought  into  her  house;  for  having 
directed  a  boiler  of  hot  water  to  be  prepared,  and 
for  having  by  force  pressed  down  his  feet  into  the 
boiling  water  until  they  had  been  completely  scalded 
and  his  extremities  destroyed  ! 

This  woman  had  of  course  to  be  placed  in  the 
dock  and  tried  as  a  criminal  on  this  atrocious 
charge ;  a  host  of  witnesses  were  brought  up  and 
examined,  from  whose  testimony  (and  many  of 
these  Hottentots  themselves)  it  was  fully  proved 
that  many  years  before,  while  this  widow  lived  in 
the  Lange  Kloof  district  (which  is  the  coldest  dis- 
trict of  the  Cape  Colony),  this  young  Hottentot  had 
been  sent  out  to  collect  some  cattle  and  drive  them 
home,  when  he  had  been  caught  in  a  snowstorm  ; 
that  not  returning  at  the  appointed  time,  every 
search  had  been  made  for  him  by  order  of  this 
widow ;  that  he  had  at  length  been  found  and 
brought  home  late  at  night,  with  his  extremities 
quite  benumbed  and  frostbitten ;  that  this  widow 
had  immediately,  by  friction  and  bandages,  en- 
deavoured to  restore  animation  to  his  extremities ; 
and  in  her  ignorance,  but  from  the  kindest  motives, 
judging  that  injuries  of  this  nature  could  be  best 
cured  by  opposite  remedies,  she  had  ordered  a  boiler 
of  hot  water  to  be  prepared,  and  had  kept  the  young 
lad's  feet  therein  for  several  minutes,  from  no  other 
possible  motive  than  from  a  feeling  of  kindness  and 


I.]  UNFOUNDED    CHARGES  15 

humanity  to  endeavour  to  restore  animation  in  his 
extremities,  in  which  she  however  failed ;  that  the 
lad  had  lived  for  several  years  afterwards  in  her 
service,  and  that  of  other  masters,  and  had  subse- 
quently died  from  disease  quite  unconnected  with 
this  injury. 

This  widow  was  of  course  acquitted,  with  every 
expression  of  sympathy  by  the  judges  on  the 
position  in  which  she  had  been  placed  ;  but  it  is 
evident  that  such  prosecutions,  in  which  nearly 
100  of  the  most  respectable  families  on  the  frontier 
were  implicated,  and  more  than  1000  witnesses  sum- 
moned and  examined,  and  in  several  of  which  the 
parties  accused,  although  acquitted  of  the  more  serious 
charges,  were  mulcted  in  fines  and  imprisonment, 
and  had,  moreover,  to  pay  heavy  law  charges  (for 
in  the  state  of  the  law  at  that  time  the  ex-officio 
prosecutors  were  entitled  to  claim  costs,  and  in  many 
instances  in  which  the  parties  were  considered  to 
have  the  means,  did  exact  them*),  that  all  those 
results  engendered  a  bitter  feeling  of  hostility  to- 
wards the  administration  of  justice  in  general,  and 
more  particularly  against  the  missionaries  who  had 
brought  forward  these  accumulated  charges  against 
such  a  number  of  colonists. 

*  The  attorney-general  or  public  prosecutor  was  by  law  entitled  to 
claim  double  the  amount  of  the  law  charges  due  to  the  advocates.  He 
had  to  make  out  a  regular  "bill  of  costs,"  which  was  subject  to  the 
taxation  of  the  registrar  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  at  the  foot  of  such 
bill  of  costs  the  public  prosecutor  charged,  pro  faco,  double,  by 
multiplying  the  bill  by  two. 


16  THE    FIRST   BOER   REBELLION          [LECT. 

This,  then,  was  the  state  of  feeling  generally  pre- 
valent throughout  the  remote  country  districts,  when 
in  the  month  of  October,  1815,  another  Commission 
of  Circuit,  at  which  I  again  officiated  as  the  Regis- 
trar, held  its  session  at  Graaff-Reinet,  when  one  of 
those  "untoward"  events  (to  use  a  phrase  from  a 
Royal  speech)  took  place,  which  set  the  whole 
eastern  province  in  a  blaze,  drove  a  great  mass  of 
the  population  into  open  rebellion  against  their 
Sovereign,  and  brought  the  heads  of  several  re- 
spectable families  to  an  ignominious  death,  thereby 
causing  an  alienation  from,  and  bitterness  of  feeling 
towards,  the  local  Government,  which  a  lapse  of 
thirty-five  years  has  not  been  able  entirely  to 
eradicate. 

At  the  opening  of  the  session  at  Graaff-Reinet, 
the  Landdrost  of  that  district,  Mr.  (afterwards  Sir  A. 
Stockenstrom),  acting  as  the  ex-officio  prosecutor, 
informed  the  court  that  a  farmer  named  Fredk. 
Bezuidenhout,  living  in  the  Baviaan's  River  district, 
had  refused  to  appear  before  the  court  of  Landdrost 
and  Heemraden  on  a  charge  of  ill-treatment  of  a 
Hottentot  preferred  against  him,  and  that  he  had 
threatened  to  shoot  the  messenger  or  sheriff  if  he 
ventured  again  to  approach  his  premises.  He  was 
known  to  be  a  person  of  a  very  daring  character, 
and  the  Landdrost  therefore  applied  for  a  warrant 
of  "  personal  summons "  (as  it  was  legally  termed), 
ordering  him  forthwith  to  appear  in  person  before 
the  Commission.  The  court  granted  this  applica- 


I.]  A   LAWLESS   DISTRICT  17 

tion,  and  from  the  lawless  habits  of  the  individual, 
and  his  daily  intercourse  with  Kafirs,  whom,  it  was 
known,  he  admitted  and  dealt  with,  contrary  to  the 
law  then  existing,  the  court  gave  an  order  author- 
ising the  messenger  who  was  sent  off  with  the 
summons  to  call  in  the  aid  of  the  nearest  military 
force,  if  he  thought  it  necessary  or  apprehended 
any  danger. 

The  messenger,  upon  reaching  the  neighbourhood, 
was  informed  that  some  Kafirs  had  been  seen  at  the 
Baviaan's  River,  and  thereupon  applied  to  Lieutenant 
Rousseau,  in  command  at  the  Boschberg  post  (now 
the  village  of  Somerset),  for  his  aid,  who  immedi- 
ately, with  twenty  men  of  the  Cape  Corps,  entered 
the  Baviaan's  River  Poort,  towards  the  residence  of 
Fredk.  Bezuidenhout.  To  a  lover  of  nature  this  is 
a  particularly  picturesque  spot,  which  was  selected 
afterwards  by  Scottish  immigrants,  headed  by  Mr. 
Pringle,  as  their  location.  They  have  called  it  "Glen- 
lynden,"  and  I  believe  it  is  at  present  one  of  the 
most  favoured  settlements  to  be  found  in  Somerset 
or  Albany ;  but  at  the  time  of  the  occurrence  now 
detailed  it  was  only  notorious  for  the  impervious 
nature  of  the  bush  around,  for  the  lawlessness  of 
its  inhabitants,  and  the  facilities  with  which  they 
maintained  constant  intercourse  with  the  Kafirs,  in 
defiance  of  the  strict  law  forbidding  all  such  inter- 
course under  the  severest  penalties. 

Upon  approaching  the  residence  of  Bezuidenhout, 
they  found  him  fully  prepared  to  meet  them ;  for 


i8  THE   FIRST   BOER   REBELLION          [LECT. 

taking  up  a  position  (with  a  powerful  half-caste  person 
in  his  employ)  behind  the  walls  of  a  cattle -kraal, 
both  being  armed,  Bezuidenhout  called  on  them  not 
to  advance,  as  the  first  man  would  be  shot !  Un- 
deterred by  this  menace,  Lieut.  Rousseau  ordered  his 
men  to  extend  themselves  in  skirmishing  order,  and 
to  attack  the  spot,  when  Bezuidenhout,  for  fear  of 
being  surrounded,  after  a  hasty  shot,  which  luckily 
took  no  effect,  fled  into  his  house,  and,  escaping 
through  the  back  door,  rushed  into  a  thick  bush  and 
jungle  close  to  the  house,  where,  strange  to  say,  for 
upwards  of  an  hour  this  party  of  twenty  active 
"track -finders"  failed  to  trace  the  retreat  of  the 
two  fugitives. 

After  again  and  again  following  their  track  up 
to  a  ledge  of  rocks  where  it  at  once  became  lost, 
they  chanced  to  espy,  in  a  remarkable  precipitous 
impending  rock  or  "  krans,"  the  shining  muzzles  of 
two  rifles  protruding  from  a  hole  in  that  ledge,  thus 
announcing  the  lair  into  which  they  had  got.  Lieut. 
Rousseau  thereupon  crawled  with  difficulty  to  the 
top  of  those  rocks,  and  there,  being  stationed  but 
a  few  feet  above  the  aperture  of  this  cavern,  he 
challenged  Bezuidenhout  to  come  out  and  surrender, 
acquainting  him  with  the  nature  of  his  errand,  and 
assuring  him  of  personal  safety,  upon  his  merely 
engaging  to  accompany  the  messenger  of  the  court, 
on  the  summons  he  was  ordered  to  serve  upon  him ; 
but  the  only  answer  he  received  was,  that  he  (Bezui- 
denhout) would  never  surrender  but  with  his  life ! 


I.]  THE   PENALTY   OF   OBSTINACY  19 

Finding  then  all  his  efforts  vain  to  bring  him  to 
reason,  and  anxious  to  get  out  of  these  kloofs  with 
his  men  before  night,  Lieut.  Rousseau,  keeping  his 
position  above,  directed  his  men  silently  to  form  in 
two  files,  each  party  scrambling  up  in  opposite 
directions  from  under  the  rock ;  when  the  heads  of 
each  column  having  got  a  few  inches  under  the 
entrance,  one  party  rushed  forward  and  threw  up 
the  two  projecting  barrels,  which  were  instantly  fired 
off,  but  without  effect,  while  the  leading  man  of  the 
second  column  fired  his  deadly  rifle  straight  into  the 
cave,  from  whence  a  cry  immediately  issued  for 
mercy  and  surrender.  All  firing  at  once  ceased, 
when  the  half-caste  Hottentot  crawled  forth,  stating 
that  he  surrendered  himself,  and  that  his  master 
lay  mortally  wounded  within  the  cave. 

The  men  of  the  detachment  even  then  with 
difficulty  got  into  this  grotto,  which  proved  of 
stalactite  formation,  and  of  goodly  dimensions  within, 
where  several  guns  and  a  large  quantity  of  balls 
and  ammunition  were  found  collected,  evidently 
showing  that  this  place  had  long  been  prepared 
for  a  retreat  in  a  similar  emergency;  and  at  the 
entrance  lay  the  expiring  corpse  of  the  unhappy 
victim  of  his  own  obstinacy,  having,  in  the  recumbent 
position  in  which  he  had  placed  himself  before  the 
cave,  received  the  fatal  shot  both  through  the  head 
and  breast. 

Finding  that  the  surrounding  bush  was  occupied 
by  Kafirs,  with  whom  Bezuidenhout  had  kept  up 


20  THE   FIRST   BOER   REBELLION          [LECT. 

daily  intercourse,  Lieut.  Rousseau  hastened  to  retire 
out  of  these  kloofs  before  nightfall,  taking  the 
half-caste  Hottentot  in  custody,  whom  he  sent  up 
to  Graaff-Reinet,  where  he  was  put  upon  his  trial ; 
but  after  a  full  inquiry  into  all  those  particulars 
he  was  acquitted  and  discharged,  and  the  Com- 
mission of  Circuit  proceeded  soon  after,  passing 
by  the  present  towns  of  Somerset  and  Graham's 
Town,  to  the  town  of  Uitenhage,  where  the  trial 
of  several  important  cases  awaited  their  arrival. 

While  engaged  in  the  midst  of  these  trials,  an 
officer  stationed  at  Graham's  Town  arrived  one 
evening  (having  left  that  town  the  morning  of  the 
same  day)  with  the  astounding  intelligence  that 
the  farmers  of  the  Somerset  and  Tarka  districts 
were  all  in  arms,  and  were  about  to  attack  Capt. 
Andrews'  post,  .  which  was  stationed  along  the 
northernmost  banks  of  the  Fish  River,  to  prevent 
any  inroads  from  Kafirs  in  that  quarter ;  and  that 
Major  Fraser,  in  command  at  Graham's  Town,  had 
immediately  proceeded  to  the  scene  of  action. 
Within  an  hour  from  the  receipt  of  that  intelligence 
Col.  Cuyler,  who  was  both  Landdrost  at  Uitenhage 
and  the  Commandant  of  the  Frontier,  started  on 
horseback,  and  within  forty-eight  hours,  to  the 
surprise  of  the  rebel  farmers  (who  were  then  still 
discussing  their  plan  of  operations),  informed  them 
of  his  presence,  and  desired  to  know  the  cause  of 
those  proceedings. 

He    then    ascertained,    that    upon    the    death    of 


I.]  BEGINNING   OF   THE   REBELLION  21 

Fredk.  Bezuidenhout,  his  relatives  and  neighbours 
had  assembled  at  his  farm,  immediately  after  the 
departure  of  Lieut.  Rousseau  and  his  detachment, 
to  commit  his  remains  to  the  grave ;  and  on 
that  occasion  John  Bezuidenhout,  a  brother  of  the 
deceased,  had  become  exceedingly  excited,  impress- 
ing upon  all  around  that  an  act  of  gross  outrage 
and  illegality  had  been  committed  upon  the  deceased 
by  his  house  having  been  surrounded  and  his  person 
attacked  by  the  military,  as  every  burgher  could 
only  legally  be  arrested  by  his  field-cornet  or  the 
civil  authorities.  This  address  had  created  universal 
sympathy,  and  all  those  present  had  at  once  engaged 
to  avenge  themselves  for  his  outrage  by  attacking 
the  nearest  military  post  and  expelling  the  British 
forces  from  the  frontier. 

They  felt,  however,  that  such  plans  ought  to  be 
more  considered  and  matured  before  being  carried 
out,  and  they  had  accordingly  resolved  to  issue 
circular  letters  to  the  neighbours  around,  calling 
upon  them  to  meet  together  and  consider  the 
present  state  of  the  country ;  while  Cornelis  Faber, 
a  brother-in-law  of  the  Bezuidenhouts,  immediately 
started  to  hold  a  personal  conference  with  the  Kafir 
chief  Gaika,  to  solicit  him  to  make  a  joint  attack 
upon  the  military  posts,  so  as  to  expel  the  British 
forces  from  the  frontier,  promising  him  a  full  share 
in  the  expected  booty.  Several  meetings  were 
accordingly  held  in  the  more  immediate  neighbour- 
hood by  those  inclined  to  join  the  rebels,  and  they 


22  THE   FIRST  BOER  REBELLION          [LECT. 

all  resolved  to  place  themselves  under  the  command 
of  Hendrik  Prinslo,  of  the  Boschberg,  and  of  John 
Bezuidenhout ;  and  having  determined  upon  this 
first  step,  other  circulars  were  more  widely  sent 
abroad  to  the  adjoining  districts,  bearing  the 
signatures  of  the  leaders,  inviting  and  commanding 
them  to  meet  in  arms  at  a  particular  spot  on  a 
day  named,  to  "  expel  the  tyrants  from  the  country." 
One  of  these  circulars  having  providentially  got 
into  the  hands  of  a  loyal  and  well-affected  farmer, 
he  lost  no  time  in  transmitting  it  to  the  Deputy- 
Landdrost  of  Cradock,  Mr.  Van  der  Graaff,  who 
forwarded  it  immediately  to  Capt.  Andrews,  where- 
upon the  latter  sent  out  a  military  party  and 
apprehended  Prinslo,  while  preparing  to  leave  his 
farm  to  join  the  first  assembly  of  men  in  arms. 
He  was  immediately  secured  and  taken  in  custody 
to  Capt.  Andrews'  post,  who  by  this  intelligence 
had  also  had  time  to  strengthen  his  position  and 
put  it  in  some  state  of  defence,  when,  two  days 
after,  three  to  four  hundred  men  in  arms  appeared 
before  it  and  summoned  him  to  give  up  the  post, 
and  deliver  up  the  prisoner  Prinslo.  At  this  time 
Faber  joined  them  from  Kafirland,  with  the 
unsatisfactory  intelligence  that  Gaika  had  given  him 
a  most  evasive  reply,  to  the  effect  that  he  would 
call  his  Pakate*  together,  and  take  some  time  to 

*  The  Pakate  are  the  counsellors  who  always  accompany  the  Great 
Chief,  and  without  whose  advice  and  concurrence  no  great  public 
measure  is  ever  determined  upon. 


i.]  FAILURE  OF  NEGOTIATIONS  23 

consider,  evidently  following  out  the  often  ex- 
perienced Kafir  policy  of  watching  the  tide  of 
events. 

Some  vacillation  was  thereby  created  in  the  opera- 
tions of  the  Boers,  and  this  became  more  apparent 
when  that  active  officer,  Major  Fraser,  succeeded  the 
same  evening  in  throwing  himself  into  the  post  and 
opening  communications  with  them,  and  when  Col. 
Cuyler  also,  two  days  after,  arrived  on  the  spot,  and 
informed  them  that  all  their  plans  were  fully  known, 
and  would  be  signally  punished.  Before,  however, 
proceeding  to  any  extremities,  a  worthy  field-com- 
mandant, William  Nel,  volunteered  to  go  among 
the  rebels,  and  if  possible  to  avert  from  them  the 
impending  hazard  they  were  running.  He  fearlessly 
continued  to  visit  them  for  two  days,  was  on  several 
occasions  in  imminent  danger  of  his  life  from  some 
of  the  most  violent  and  lawless  of  the  rebels,  who 
evidently  saw  that  iie  was  succeeding  in  opening 
the  eyes  of  some  to  tie  dangerous  position  in  which 
they  were  placed ;  when  the  leaders  Faber,  Bezuiden- 
hout,  and  others,  to  comteract  this  impression,  which 
they  also  saw  manifesting  itself,  called  the  whole 
of  their  host  together,  and  exacted  from  them  a 
solemn  oath,  which  they  all  took  while  ranged  in  a 
circle,  loudly  exclaiming  that  they  would  remain 
faithful  to  each  other  uitil  they  had  expelled  the 
tyrants  from  the  frontier 

Col.  Cuyler  despairing,  upon  this  intelligence,  of 
bringing  about  their  submssion  by  peaceable  means, 


24  THE  FIRST  BOER  REBELLION         [LECT. 

sallied  forth  the  next  morning  early,  out  of  Capt. 
Andrews'  post,  at  the  head  of  a  troop  of  the  2ist 
Light    Dragoons,   and    a    troop    of    loyal    burghers 
headed   by  Commandant   Nel,  and   finding  an   ad- 
vanced post   of  the   rebels   (which   they  appear   to 
have  thrown  out  from  their  main  body),  Col.  Cuyler 
at  once  ordered  the  troops  to  advance  upon  them, 
when   about  thirty,  forming  their  left  wing,  threw 
down  their  arms   in   token   of  surrender;   and   the 
remainder  falling  back  upon  their  main  body,  they 
all   gave    up    the    hope    of    further    resistance,   and 
slowly  retired  with  all  their  waggons  and  cattle  into 
the  fastnesses  of  the  Baviaan's  River,  where  (they 
were  well  aware)  a  small  force  could  hardly  expect 
to  dislodge  them.     Some  further  attempt  to  bring 
them  to  submission  having  again  feiled,  Major  Fraser 
on  one  side,  the  Landdrost  Stockenstrom  on  another, 
and   the  Deputy-Landdrost  of  Cradock  on  a  third 
point,   arranged   a   combined   rcovement,   by  which 
they    entered    and    cleared    simultaneously    all    the 
fastnesses   of  that   impervious  glen ;    the   result   of 
which  was,  that  most  of  the  ibllowers  of  this  band, 
now  enclosed,  contrived  at  night  stealthily  to  escape 
by  passes  with  which  they  vere  familiar;    but  the 
principal  leaders  still  determhed  to  reject  all  terms, 
broke  up  with  their  waggon/  and  all  their  necessary 
"  materiel,"  and  contrived  t»  get  out  of  that  district 
without  direct  opposition,  tnd  proceeded  as  far  as 
the  Winterberg,  immediatey  bordering  upon  Kafir- 
land,  where  they  expected  to  meet  with  safety;  but 


I.]  END    OF  THE   REBELLION  25 

Major  Fraser  with  a  detachment  of  the  Cape  Corps 
succeeded  at  length  in  completely  surrounding  them 
in  a  deep  kloof,  where  they  were  come  upon  while 
outspanned ;  but  rejecting  all  offers  of  surrender, 
John  Bezuidenhout,  Stephs.,  Corns.,  and  Abraham 
Botman,  Andries  Meyer,  Corns.  Faber,  his  wife,  and 
his  young  son,  fourteen  years  old,  took  up  a  position 
behind  their  waggons,  from  whence  they  maintained 
a  regular  skirmish  for  some  time,  killing  one  of  the 
Cape  Corps  and  wounding  another,  and  it  was  not 
until  Bezuidenhout  was  shot,  and  Faber  and  his  wife 
were  both  wounded,  that  the  troops  succeeded  in 
taking  them  all  prisoners. 

They  were  from  thence  guarded  by  a  military 
escort,  and  committed  to  the  gaol  of  Uitenhage, 
where,  subsequently,  some  fifty  or  sixty  more  persons 
who  were  traced,  and  known  to  have  joined  in  the 
rebellion,  were  secured  ;  and  a  special  commission, 
appointed  at  Cape  Town,  soon  arrived  there  to  try 
the  offenders.  After  some  preliminary  inquiry, 
thirty-nine  persons  out  of  the  whole  party  were 
selected  as  the  most  culpable,  who  were  put  upon 
their  trial  on  the  charge  of  high  treason,  and  waging 
war  against  His  Majesty ;  and  after  a  lengthened 
and  painful  trial,  a  sentence  was  passed  condemning 
six  of  the  leaders  to  suffer  capital  punishment ;  and 
all  the  others,  after  witnessing  the  ignominious  death 
of  their  leaders,  to  undergo  various  degrees  of 
punishment  by  transportation,  banishment,  and  fines, 
according  to  the  various  degrees  of  their  proved 


26  THE   FIRST   BOER   REBELLION          [LECT. 

culpability.  Upon  this  sentence  being  forwarded  to 
the  Governor  of  the  colony  for  his  "fiat,"  before 
being  carried  into  execution,  His  Excellency  was 
pleased  to  commute  the  sentence  of  one  of  the 
leaders  into  transportation  for  life ;  but  with  regard 
to  them  all,  the  sentence  directed  that  they  should 
be  led  to  a  remarkable  plot  of  ground,  or  plateau, 
called  the  "  Slachters  Nek,"  being  the  very  spot 
where  these  leaders  had  exacted  from  all  their 
followers  the  oath  to  stand  by  each  other  until  they 
had  "  expelled  the  tyrants." 

Thither  they  were  taken  under  a  strong  military 
escort,  and  on  the  6th  of  March,  1816,  under  the 
direction  of  Col.  Cuyler  (upon  whom,  both  as  the 
ex-officio  prosecutor  and  as  commandant,  the  duty 
devolved  of  seeing  the  sentence  carried  out),  the  sad 
preparations  were  made,  in  the  presence  of  a  large 
concourse  of  the  friends  and  relatives  of  those  about 
to  undergo  the  punishment  of  death,  and  who  were 
gathered  together  from  all  parts  of  the  frontier  to 
take  a  last  farewell  of  those  whose  lives  were  to 
be  forfeited,  although  it  appeared  that  some  hope 
was  still  entertained  among  them  that  their  lives 
would  be  spared.  In  these  hopes  they  were,  how- 
ever, sadly  disappointed  when  they  saw  the  scaffold 
prepared  to  receive  the  five  culprits,  who  with  perfect 
resignation  and  firmness,  under  the  spiritual  guidance 
of  a  worthy  minister,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Herhold,  simul- 
taneously mounted  the  fatal  ladder,  from  which,  at 
a  given  signal,  they  were  launched  into  eternity ! 


I.]  EXECUTION   OF   THE   LEADERS  27 

But,  even  then,  they  were  doomed  not  to  find  an 
end  to  their  misery ;  from  the  hasty  and  imperfect 
manner  in  which  the  scaffold  had  been  constructed, 
it  proved  insufficient  to  bear  the  weight  and  dying 
struggles  of  these  five  powerful  men  thus  thrown  off. 
The  whole  fabric  gave  way,  and  the  unfortunate  men, 
slowly  recovering  from  the  asphyxiated  state  into 
which  they  had  been  partially  thrown,  crawled  up 
to  the  officer  whose  painful  duty  it  was  to  see  to 
the  execution  of  that  sentence,  calling  aloud  for 
mercy.  This  was  responded  to  by  all  their  friends 
placed  without  the  circle,  who,  viewing  this  as  a 
signal  dispensation  of  Providence,  were  with  difficulty 
kept  from  forcing  themselves  through  the  military 
array,  and  with  screams  and  shouts  joined  in  the 
cry  for  mercy. 

But  the  stern  nature  of  his  duty  left  the  kind- 
hearted  Col.  Cuyler  no  alternative  but  to  see  the 
execution  carried  out  to  the  letter  of  the  sentence. 

The  culprits  were  again  secured,  every  preparation 
was  again  hastily  made,  so  as  not  to  allow  the  day 
to  pass  within  which  the  sentence  directed  the 
execution  to  take  place ;  and  amidst  the  cries  and 
clamour  of  their  friends,  the  five  unfortunate  beings 
were  doomed  again  singly  to  mount  the  ladder,  and 
the  last  rays  of  the  setting  sun  shone  gloomily  upon 
the  five  expiring  sufferers,  now  dangling  in  mid-air, 
until  life  became  extinct,  when  they  were  cut  down 
and  their  earthly  remains  buried  under  the  scaffold 
by  the  hands  of  the  executioner  (in  the  terms  of  the 


28  THE   FIRST  BOER  REBELLION          [LECT. 

sentence  of  the  law),  and  amidst  the  cries  and  sobs 
of  their  friends,  to  whom  their  last  request  to  obtain 
the  dead  bodies  was  refused. 

Thus  ended  the  rebellion  of  1815,  the  most  in- 
sane attempt  ever  made  by  a  set  of  men  to  wage 
war  against  their  Sovereign,  the  result  of  which 
could  not  have  been  doubtful  for  a  single  moment : 
it  originated  entirely  in  the  wild  unruly  passions 
of  a  few  clans  of  persons  who  could  not  suffer 
themselves  to  be  brought  under  the  authority  of 
the  law :  the  sentence  passed  upon  them  was  no 
other  than  might  have  been  expected  in  a  case 
of  overt  rebellion  thus  committed ;  and  although 
at  the  present  time,  with  our  feelings  of  humanity 
becoming  daily  more  and  more  abhorrent  of  the 
punishment  of  death,  we  may  think  that  the  for- 
feiture of  one  or  two  lives  might  have  amply 
atoned  for  the  offence  (considering  the  lives  pre- 
viously sacrificed),  yet  the  culprits  or  their  friends 
could  have  no  cause  for  just  complaint  when,  for 
crimes  such  as  these,  the  rigour  of  the  law  was  en- 
forced ;  on  the  other  hand,  we  need  only  call  to 
remembrance  our  own  feelings  at  the  perusal  of  the 
thrilling  pages  of  the  immortal  author  of  Waverley, 
to  admit  that  pity  and  commiseration  for  the  van- 
quished are  perfectly  consistent  with  the  admission 
of  the  unlawfulness  of  their  cause ;  for  although  we 
need  not  exactly  assent  to  the  proposition  of  the 
author  of  the  Pharsalia — 

"  Victrix  causa  diis  placuit  sed  victa  Catoni," 


I.]  AN    INDELIBLE    IMPRESSION  29 

yet  we  may  justly,  at  least,  make  allowance  for  the 
wounded  feelings  of  those  who  were  left  behind. 

In  fact,  I  know,  from  personal  interviews  with 
several  of  the  descendants  of  those  who  were  then 
executed,  that  these  events  which  I  have  how  de- 
tailed, have  left  in  their  minds  a  far  more  indelible 
impression  than  even  their  losses  by  the  Kafir  wars, 
or  the  abolition  of  slavery.  When  here  as  Her 
Majesty's  Commissioner,  in  1843  and  1844,  I 
endeavoured  frequently,  in  converse  with  many 
influential  farmers,  to  soothe  down  the  feelings  of 
hostility  which  they  openly  avowed  against  Her 
Majesty's  Government ;  and  when  I  had  frequently 
(I  hoped)  succeeded  in  convincing  them  of  the 
mistaken  views  which  they  had  imbibed  as  to  the 
principles  and  objects  of  Government  in  public 
matters,  and  proved  to  them  satisfactorily,  that  (as 
regarded  their  future  prospects)  an  entire  new  system 
had  been  laid  down,  and  was  now  carrying  on,  to 
give  them  the  enjoyment  of  the  utmost  share  of 
rational  liberty  in  all  their  political  institutions; 
when  I  had  succeeded  so  far  in  convincing  their 
minds,  I  have  more  than  once  felt  a  pang  to  hear 
the  embodiment  of  their  inmost  feelings  expressed 
in  the  words — "We  can  never  forget  Slachters  Nek!" 

Such  expressions,  coming  from  the  heart,  could 
not  but  be  respected  and  sympathised  with,  and 
we  might  only  hope  that  the  rising  up  of  another 
generation  would  gradually  obliterate  such  feelings ; 
and  that,  as  in  the  present  descendants  of  those  who 


30  THE   FIRST   BOER   REBELLION          [LECT. 

took  prominent  parts,  and  "  were  out,"  in  the  Scotch 
Rebellions  of  1715  and  1745,  their  feelings  of  hostility 
towards  the  Government  are  long  since  forgotten 
in  the  unity  of  interests  which  now  prevails :  this 
would  undoubtedly  also  here  have  taken  place  to 
a  certain  extent,  if  after  that  date  two  or  three 
other  events  deeply  affecting  their  interests  had 
not  tended  still  further  to  keep  up  and  excite  that 
distrust  of,  if  not  hostility  towards,  the  Government, 
which  more  directly  preceded  and  brought  this  vast 
expatriation. 

If  you,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  have  felt  any  interest 
in  this  introductory  address,  I  shall  willingly  devote 
a  little  more  time  to  collect  the  materials  and  give 
you  the  details  of  those  further  events ;  but  before 
I  pledge  myself  to  carry  out  that  intention,  allow  me 
to  throw  myself  upon  your  candour,  at  once  to 
pronounce  whether  any  here  present  conceive  that 
in  so  doing  I  can  be  said  to  depart  from  that 
principle  which  I  have  been  the  first  to  impress  upon 
our  Council,  that  we  should  not  enter  upon  matters 
of  present  political  bearing  in  the  district.  If  this 
be  felt  by  anyone,  I  shall  at  once  decline  carrying 
out  a  task  from  which  I  only  hope  to  derive  the 
pleasure  of  producing  a  kindly  spirit  between  our 
present  immigrants  and  the  Dutch  farmers,  by  their 
becoming,  as  it  were,  more  intimately  acquainted 
with  each  other.  I  have  also  ventured  upon  this 
course,  as  I  confess  I  do  not  view  such  a  retrospect 
as  in  the  slightest  degree  connected  with  the  present 


I.]  COLONIAL   GOVERNMENT  31 

political  state  of  the  country,  respecting  which  I  am 
well  aware  such  an  entire  change  has  taken  place 
in  the  general  policy  of  Her  Majesty's  Councils,  that 
so  far  from  wishing  to  withhold  any  rights  or  privi- 
leges from  any  of  Her  Majesty's  subjects  here,  it  can 
only  be  owing  to  their  own  indifference  to  these 
matters,  or  to  the  improper  way  of  making  their 
appeal,  that  such  boons  would  be  withheld  from 
them. 

In  short,  we  have  only  to  refer  to  the  memorable 
despatch  of  Lord  Stanley  of  December,  1842  (which 
first  directed  the  adoption  of  this  territory),  and  to 
the  more  recent  speeches  delivered  by  Lord  John 
Russell,  and  very  lately  by  Earl  Grey  in  the  House 
of  Lords,  to  feel  that  the  mists  which  ignorance, 
misrepresentation,  and  party  spirit  had  for  some 
time  cast  around  our  rulers  have  been  completely 
dispelled  ;  and  that  both  they  and  the  British  public 
in  general  are  only  anxious  to  see  us  all  enjoying 
a  full  share  of  rational  liberty,  as  most  conducive  not 
only  to  our  own  interests,  but  to  those  of  the  empire 
at  large.  On  this  subject  I  shall  beg  to  conclude 
by  quoting  a  remarkable  passage  to  be  found  in  the 
Edinburgh  Review  of  April  last,  in  an  article  headed 
"  Shall  we  Retain  our  Colonies  ?  "  The  words  are  : — 

"  The  affection  of  the  colonists  it  is  easy  to  preserve  or 
to  recover,  where,  through  misjudgment  or  misunderstand- 
ing, it  has  been  shaken  or  impaired.  By  ruling  them  with 
forbearance,  steadiness,  and  justice,  by  leading  them  forward 
in  the  path  of  freedom  with  an  encouraging  but  cautious 


32  THE   FIRST  BOER   REBELLION      [LECT.  I. 

hand,  by  bestowing  upon  them  the  fullest  powers  of  self- 
government  wherever  the  infusion  of  British  blood  is  large 
enough  to  warrant  such  a  course ;  in  a  word,  by  following 
out  the  line  of  policy  announced  and  defended  by  Lord 
John  Russell,  in  his  speech  on  the  introduction  of  a  Bill 
for  the  government  of  the  Australian  Colonies  in  February 
of  the  last  year,  we  may  secure  the  existence,  and  rivet  the 
cohesion  of  a  dominion,  blest  with  the  wisest,  soberest, 
most  beneficial  form  of  liberty  which  the  world  has  yet 
enjoyed,  and  spreading  to  distant  lands  and  future  ages 
the  highest,  most  prolific,  and  most  expansive  development 
of  civilisation  which  Providence  has  ever  granted  to 
humanity ! " 


LECTURE    II. 

THREE   GREAT   GRIEVANCES 

IN  my  last  lecture  I  gave  the  details  of  one  of 
those  unfortunate  events  which  frequently  mark 
the  transition  from  a  rude  state  of  society  to  one 
in  which  the  supremacy  of  the  law  becomes  a 
principle  acknowledged  by  all  classes,  as  essential 
to  the  general  peace  of  the  community  and  as 
consistent  with  the  very  notion  of  rational  liberty. 
The  feeling  of  hostility  towards  the  Government 
and  the  administration  of  justice,  which  then  pre- 
vailed among  the  frontier  farmers,  would  gradually 
have  been  obliterated,  as  they  became  more  and 
more  sensible  of  the  advantages  which  a  higher 
state  of  civilisation  conferred  upon  them ;  but  several 
other  causes  soon  arose,  which  not  only  fed  that 
flame  of  discontent,  but  became  ultimately  so 
burthensome  as  literally  to  drive  the  great  majority 
of  the  inhabitants  of  the  eastern  province  out  of 
the  pale  of  the  colony,  and  after  that  movement 
had  once  commenced,  it  has  since  been  found  quite 
impossible  to  stem  the  torrent.  One  cause  of 
general  dissatisfaction  was  connected  with  and  arose 
from  the  hasty  and  ill-considered  measure  directed 
D  33 


34  THREE  GREAT  GRIEVANCES  [LECT. 

by  the  Home  Government  to  redeem  the  paper 
currency,  after  having  allowed  a  ruinous  deprecia- 
tion to  take  place,  which  judicious  measures  might 
have  averted  or  prevented  to  a  great  extent.*  That 
cause  of  grievance  is,  however,  more  connected  with, 
and  forms  part  rather  of,  the  general  history  of  the 
Cape  Colony ;  I  shall  therefore  not  enter  upon  that 
subject,  except  only  to  observe  that  it  tended  to 
keep  up  the  excitement  previously  produced  on  the 
frontier,  and  caused  that  spirit  of  disaffection  to 
become  more  generally  and  widely  spread  than  it 
otherwise  would  have  been. 

But,  independent  of  this,  there  arose  three  great 
and  prominent  causes  of  grievance,  which  bore  less 
or  more  seriously  upon  the  energies  and  prospects 
of  the  whole  colony,  but  pressed  with  tenfold  hard- 
ship upon  the  eastern  provinces.  With  regard  to 
these  questions,  it  must  also  be  observed  at  the 
outset  that,  although,  for  the  sake  of  perspicuity, 
I  shall  deal  with  them  separately,  they  were  yet 
working  simultaneously;  the  one  cause  preponder- 
ating in  one  year,  and  in  another  the  second  or 
the  third  cause,  but  all  alike  tending  to  accomplish 
this  one  end — that  of  driving  the  great  mass  of 
the  population  out  of  the  further  influence  of  those 

*  An  ordinance  sent  out  by  the  Home  Government  was  promulgated 
on  the  6th  of  June,  1825,  introducing  British  silver  money  as  a  legal 
tender,  and  directing  it  to  be  taken  in  exchange  for  the  Cape  paper 
rixdollar  at  one  shilling  and  sixpence  sterling,  which  had  been  originally 
issued  and  recognised  as  of  the  value  of  four  shillings  for  every  rix- 
dollar. 


II.]  HATRED   AGAINST   MISSIONARIES  35 

measures  which  (several  have  often  assured  me) 
would  otherwise  again  have  driven  them  to  open 
resistance  or  rebellion. 

These  three  great  grievances  under  which  they 
suffered  may  be  styled — 

1.  The  Hottentot  Question ; 

2.  The  Slave  Question ; 

3.  The  Kafir  Question ; 

and  it  will  at  once  be  seen  from  the  mere  recital 
of  these  names  that  they  all  arose  from  the  manner 
in  which  both  the  local  and  the  Home  Government 
were  considered  to  be  dealing  with  those  three  dis- 
tinct races  by  which  the  European  population  was 
surrounded,  and  upon  a  judicious  management  of 
which  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  the  colony  entirely 
depended. 

I  shall  therefore  consider  the  prominent  features 
of  each  of  these  three  great  questions,  as  they  more 
particularly  bore  upon  the  interests  of  the  frontier 
farmers,  and  which  afflicted  them  during  a  period 
of  twenty  years,  say  from  1815  to  1835,  when  the 
migration  out  of  the  colony  into  Central  Africa  may 
be  said  to  have  commenced. 

I  have  stated  in  my  preceding  lecture  that  the 
proceedings  instituted  by  Dr.  Van  der  Kemp  and 
the  Rev.  Jno.  Read,  against  a  great  number  of 
the  members  of  influential  families  throughout  the 
country  districts,  caused  at  once  a  deep-seated  hatred 
against  those  missionaries  who  had  thus  constituted 


36  THREE  GREAT  GRIEVANCES  [LECT. 

themselves  the  guardians  of  the  Hottentot  race,  and 
also  created  a  sense  of  distrust  of  the  Government, 
from  the  manner  in  which  (it  appeared  to  them)  that 
cause  had  been  advocated  and  supported.  In  stating 
this  fact  let  me  not  be  misunderstood,  nor  let  it  be 
supposed  that  I  wish  to  express  for  a  moment  any 
other  opinion  than  that,  in  very  many  instances,  it 
had  become  necessary  to  release  that  race  from  the 
state  of  thraldom  in  which  they  had  theretofore  been 
kept ;  nor  do  I  wish  to  express  any  other  opinion 
than  that  there  were  among  those  individuals  who 
were  devoting  themselves  to  the  conversion  of  the 
heathen,  and  spreading  among  barbarous  nations 
the  light  of  the  Gospel,  many  excellent  persons, 
who  may  be  justly  ranked  among  the  greatest 
benefactors  of  the  human  race  ;  and  that  such  names 
as  those  of  Kicherer,  Edwards,  Campbell,  Moffatt, 
Hodgson,  and  the  like,  will  ever  be  respected  by 
every  one  who  regards  true  religion  and  virtue  as 
essential  to  the  happiness  and  the  eternal  welfare 
of  the  human  race.  But,  being  now  enlisted  in  the 
sacred  cause  of  truth,  my  duty  compels  me  equally 
to  state  that,  at  the  time  which  I  am  now  consider- 
ing, there  were  among  those  who  assumed  to  them- 
selves the  important  office  of  teachers  in  the 
missionary  schools  within  the  colony,  several  persons 
so  illiterate,  and  beset  by  such  narrow  -  minded 
prejudices,  as  to  render  them  totally  unfit  to  direct 
the  education  and  moral  training  of  the  Hottentot 
youths  of  both  sexes ;  while  there  were  even  some 


II.]  MISSIONARIES   AND   THE   NATIVES  37 

amongst  them  who,  from  the  disreputable  connection 
they  had  formed  with  females  of  that  race,  had  lost 
all  that  respect  which  morality  of  conduct  will  ever 
command  in  society. 

Such  instances  were  not  only  marked  out  as 
warranting  that  dislike  to  missionaries  in  general, 
but  the  inhabitants  saw,  with  dread  and  apprehen- 
sion, how  the  Government  gradually  allowed  the 
whole  of  that  population  (on  which  all  farming 
pursuits  on  the  frontier  depended)  to  withdraw 
themselves  from  all  control  and  agricultural  pursuits, 
and  to  put  themselves,  moreover,  under  the  spiritual 
charge  of  any  person  who,  without  reference  to 
country  or  nation,  announced  himself  as  inclined 
to  become  the  pastor  of  such  flocks. 

In  this  manner,  within  a  few  years,  no  less  than 
"  thirty  missionary  schools,"  or  institutions,  sprang  up 
within  the  colony  —  where  Dutchmen,  Frenchmen, 
and  Germans  joined  with  English  or  Scotchmen 
nominally  to  instruct  any  Hottentots,  or  descendants 
of  Hottentots,  who  felt  inclined  to  congregate  around 
them. 

The  younger  ones,  no  doubt,  received  there  the 
rudiments  of  some  elementary  education ;  but  the 
older  ones  uniformly  declared  that  they  were  "too 
old"  to  learn,  but  yet  preferred  remaining  there, 
leading  a  listless,  idle  life  so  congenial  to  their 
habits,  and  could  only  be  induced  in  the  seasons 
of  harvest,  or  upon  urgent  applications,  occasionally 
to  drive  a  waggon  to  market,  and  thus  so  far  to  "  lend 


38  THREE  GREAT  GRIEVANCES  [LECT. 

their  help "  ;  but  at  such  extravagant  prices  as  at 
once  deprived  the  agriculturist  of  his  legitimate 
profits,  and  rendered  such  sources  of  labour  so 
uncertain  and  precarious,  that  (in  very  many  cases) 
he  was  compelled  to  abandon  agriculture  altogether, 
and  to  depend  solely  upon  his  herds  and  flocks  for 
food  and  support.  But  even  for  the  protection  and 
rearing  of  these  some  herdsmen  and  shepherds  were 
needed,  but  these  duties  they  also  gradually  ceased 
to  perform :  so  that  whenever  a  farmer  was  unable, 
by  the  help  of  his  own  family,  to  watch  his  flocks 
by  day  and  by  night,  losses  became  fearful,  and 
many,  in  despair,  were  compelled  to  give  up  all 
farming  prospects,  and  to  take  up  their  abode  with 
some  friends  or  relatives,  so  as  to  combine  their 
resources,  and  thus  eke  out  a  miserable  subsistence, 
without  the  chance  of  improving  their  condition, 
still  less  of  providing  for  their  offspring. 

This  injury  was  not  so  seriously  complained  of 
in  the  western,  or  rather  south-western,  provinces, 
near  Cape  Town,  where,  for  a  time,  slave  labour 
was  sufficient  for  the  wants  of  agriculture ;  but  in 
the  northern  and  eastern  districts  it  was  intensely 
felt.  I  have  myself  known  farms  which  had  been 
completely  abandoned,  by  the  last  remaining  Hotten- 
tots having  given  up  service,  or  retired  to  the 
missionary  schools,  taking  with  them  the  flocks  or 
herds  which  they  had  earned  in  their  employer's 
service,  and  rejecting  every  offer  or  bribe  to  continue 
any  longer  in  such  service. 


ii.]  THE   HOTTENTOT  DIFFICULTY  39 

There  were  even  many  Hottentot  families  so 
destitute,  or  otherwise  ill -behaved,  that  admission 
to  the  missionary  institutions  was  refused  to  them ; 
but  these,  rather  than  continue  in  the  service  of 
the  farmers,  gradually  congregated  themselves  in 
the  outskirts  of  various  towns,  and  chiefly  about 
Graaff-Reinet,  Graham's  Town,  and  Somerset,  where 
they  became  a  perfect  pest  to  society,  and  a  terror 
to  all  the  neighbourhood,  from  the  daring  thefts 
and  robberies  which  were  committed  by  them  for 
miles  around.  The  difficulty,  however,  of  tracing 
and  punishing  these  offenders  was  so  strongly  felt, 
that  nothing  but  the  enactment  of  a  stringent 
vagrant  law  appeared  to  all  practical  men  likely 
to  meet  and  overcome  the  evil ;  but  the  difficulties 
in  the  way  of  enacting  such  a  law  appeared  insuper- 
able to  the  Legislature,  and  although  frequently 
promised  by  the  Executive,  it  was  deferred  to  the 
Greek  Kalends,  thus  only  increasing  the  disaffection 
by  the  disappointment  of  such  expectations. 

It  is  a  singular  fact,  that  the  only  relief  which 
some  of  the  farmers  found  in  those  districts  was 
at  places  adjoining  the  Bushman  country,  where  a 
humane  and  enlightened  policy  soon  received  its 
never-failing  reward. 

Up  to  the  beginning  of  this  century  these  Bush- 
men had  been  considered  as  utterly  irreclaimable  : 
the  deadly  poison  which  they  dealt  out  to  anyone 
approaching  them  in  any  suspicious  attitude  made 
them  an  object  of  universal  dread  and  abhorrence  : 


40  THREE  GREAT  GRIEVANCES  [LECT. 

they  were  considered  as  the  declared  enemies  of 
the  human  race ;  and  I  fear  that  the  indiscriminate 
slaughter  of  men,  women,  and  children  of  that  race 
was  at  one  time  considered  not  only  as  perfectly 
lawful,  but  praiseworthy. 

However,  about  the  beginning  of  this  century,  the 
worthy  missionaries,  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Kicherer  and 
Edwards,  boldly  ventured  among  them,  and  secure 
under  the  aegis  of  the  Gospel  and  religion,  they 
displayed  their  moral  courage  in  the  midst  of  the 
threats  and  the  fearful  scenes  which  they  were 
compelled  to  witness,  and  their  sublime  sacrifice  of 
every  comfort,  and  almost  of  every  necessity  of 
life,  in  the  cause  of  humanity,  was  ultimately  re- 
warded by  reclaiming  at  least  some  few  clans,  and 
establishing  a  friendly  feeling  between  them  and  the 
nearest  farmers. 

Soon  after  this,  also,  a  custom  was  introduced, 
sanctioned  and  encouraged  by  Government,*  of  allow- 
ing some  field-cornets  of  well-established  humanity  to 
visit  their  country  on  hunting  expeditions,  ih  seasons 
of  drought  and  famine,  when  the  Bushmen  were  seen 
congregating  in  flocks  around  them,  and  thereby  ac- 
quiring the  art  of  converting  into  "  biltong  "f  the 

*  This  mode  of  reclaiming  them  was  first  recommended  to  Govern- 
ment by  the  "Commissioners  of  Circuit." 

t  "  Biltong  "  (literally  "  hamtongue  ")  consists  of  strips  of  raw  meat, 
cut  out  of  the  hams,  sirloins,  or  fleshy  parts  of  cattle,  or  the  larger 
antelopes,  which,  sprinkled  over  with  salt,  are  exposed  to  a  warm  sun, 
and  thus,  sun-dried,  constitute  the  usual  food  of  the  pastoral  farmers 
for  months. 


IL]  BUSHMEN   AS   SHEPHERDS  41 

produce  of  the  chase,  thus  securing  to  themselves  at 
least  some  animal  food  throughout  those  seasons  of 
starvation. 

This  humane  conduct  of  these  farmers  was  duly 
rewarded,  as  some  of  these  Bushmen  gradually  put 
themselves  under  their  protection,  and  entered  the 
service  of  the  farmers  around,  thereby  further  secur- 
ing to  themselves  and  their  families  a  certain  mode 
of  subsistence  throughout  the  year.  Their  natural 
intelligence  was  soon  displayed  in  watching  the 
flocks;  they  became  most  faithful  and  trustworthy 
herdsmen,  and  I  have  personally  visited  farms  in 
the  Sneeuwberg,  which  had  for  months  been  aban- 
doned by  the  proprietors,  who  had  gone  off  to 
Cape  Town,  or  to  distant  districts,  with  their  entire 
families,  leaving  flocks  of  six,  seven,  and  ten  thousand 
sheep  under  the  sole  charge  of  one  or  two  families 
of  these  "  tame  "  Bushmen  (as  they  were  emphatically 
called) ;  and  I  have  been  subsequently  informed  that 
such  instances  were  by  no  means  rare,  that  they 
invariably  proved  themselves  fully  worthy  of  the 
trust  thus  reposed  in  them,  and  that  on  the  return 
of  their  masters  they  would,  with  the  help  of  their 
"kerfstok"  (or  nick -stick)  account  for  the  loss  of 
every  ewe,  wether,  or  lamb  which  had  died  or  been 
lost  with  a  distinctness  and  fidelity  truly  surprising. 

From  a  note  appended  to  one  of  the  inimitable 
chapters  of  the  Antiquary,  Sir  Walter  Scott  (it  would 
appear)  notices  these  "  nick-sticks  "  as  peculiar  to  the 
bakers  in  Scotland  two  or  three  centuries  ago.  It 


42  THREE  GREAT  GRIEVANCES  [LECT. 

may  not  prove  uninteresting  to  an  Oldbuck  of 
Monkbarns  to  trace  whether  the  Caledonian  bakers 
acquired  that  knowledge  from  the  Bushmen  of  South 
Africa,  or  vice  versa;  but  to  those  who  feel  disinclined 
to  adopt  either  theory,  it  may  suffice  to  consider 
how,  in  a  primitive  state  of  society,  men  will  be  found 
to  resort  to  the  same  rude  means  of  aiding  their 
memories  and  sharpening  their  intellect,  without 
reference  to  latitude  or  country. 

In  those  few  districts  then  immediately  adjoining 
the  Bushman  country  some  substitute  was  partially 
found  for  their  loss  of  their  Hottentot  servants,  but 
throughout  the  remainder  of  the  eastern  province  it 
must  be  acknowledged  that  the  numerous  missionary 
schools,  and  last  of  all  the  extensive  establishment 
at  Kat  River,  took  from  the  service  of  the  farmers 
every  Hottentot  or  servant  of  Hottentot  descent, 
who  were  not  only  induced  to  retire  to  those  schools 
as  the  abode  of  ease  and  indolence,  but  were  more- 
over taught  to  consider  themselves  as  a  distinct  and 
separate  race,  who  "  ought "  not  to  owe  any  service  to 
the  Saxon  farmer. 

And  this  leads  me  to  notice  a  far  more  serious  evil 
still  than  the  mere  loss  of  labour,  which  arose  from 
the  system  pursued  in  regard  of  the  Hottentot 
race,  the  effect  of  which,  although  long  predicted 
by  many  persons,  had  been  only  considered  as 
"  Cassandra's  "  prophecies,  until  the  late  events  have 
exposed  them  in  their  fearful  reality ;  and  they 
can  now,  therefore,  only  be  noticed  as  historical 


ii.]         EVIL   INFLUENCE  OF   MISSIONARIES         43 

lessons,  from  which  rulers  may  derive  useful  warn- 
ings in  legislating  for  and  governing  different  races 
in  one  and  the  same  country. 

I  have  already  noticed  that  at  most  (if  not  in  all) 
these  schools  or  institutions  within  the  colony  the 
Government  did  not  claim  or  exercise  the  slightest 
interference  or  control ;  occasionally,  even,  disclosures 
were  made  which  clearly  showed  that  in  some  of 
them  a  magisterial  authority  was  assumed  to  punish 
offenders  by  juries,  and  modes  of  punishment  were 
devised  by  the  missionaries  within  such  schools 
altogether  inconsistent  with  the  first  principles  of 
justice ;  but  these  even  appear  to  have  been  passed 
by  without  official  notice ;  and  upon  this  principle  of 
the  Government  becoming  more  and  more  apparent, 
the  missionaries  also  became  the  more  confirmed  in 
the  authority  which  they  assumed,  as  well  over  the 
temporal  as  the  spiritual  concerns  of  those  who  came 
to  their  schools. 

With  the  exception  of  the  simple-minded  Moravian 
brethren  (whom  I  would  willingly  distinguish  as  a 
marked  exception),  I  believe,  I  am  bound  to  state 
that  almost  universally  the  notion  was  studiously  in- 
culcated in  the  minds  of  the  Hottentots  that  they 
not  only  had  been,  but  still  continued  to  be,  an 
oppressed  race ;  that  despite  the  Magna  Charta 
granted  them  by  the  Government,  in  the  so-called 
5Oth  Ordinance,  the  white  people  were  still  ready  at 
all  times  to  injure  them  ;  and  such  notions,  I  fear, 
were  instilled  with  great  earnestness  in  the  minds  of 


44  THREE  GREAT  GRIEVANCES  [LECT. 

the  large  mass  of  Hottentots  who  were  congregated 
in  the  Kat  River  settlements.  This  notion,  no  doubt, 
laid  the  foundation  of  the  rebellion  which  has  so 
fatally  complicated  the  present  Kafir  war ;  but  upon 
these  events  it  is  not  my  wish  to  dwell  any  further, 
as  I  only  desire  here  to  state  that,  many  years  ago,  I 
noticed  that  feeling  of  "  national  alienation "  (as  it 
may  be  called)  arising,  and  anticipated  that  those 
seeds  of  antipathy  and  hostility  of  races  would  inevit- 
ably yield  those  poisonous  fruits  from  which  the 
colony  has  of  late  been  suffering. 

This  wilt  be  sufficient  to  mark  how  the  gradual 
withdrawal  of  the  whole  Hottentot  race  from  agri- 
cultural or  pastoral  service — and  the  spirit  of  hostility 
which  manifested  itself  in  them  towards  the  frontier 
colonists — left  the  latter  no  other  remedy  than  to 
resort  to  the  sad  alternative  of  seeking  elsewhere 
for  a  place  where  their  herds  and  flocks  might  be 
safe,  and  where  they  might  obtain  labour  on  more 
easy  terms. 

II.  But  great  and  serious  as  this  cause  of  grievance 
became,  it  proved  quite  secondary  to  the  intensity  of 
feeling  with  which  the  colonists  saw  the  steps  taken 
by  the  Government  to  deprive  them  of  that  labour 
over  which  they  claimed  an  unquestionable  right  of 
property. 

It  is  a  singular  fact,  and  one,  I  believe,  not  gener- 
ally known,  or  at  least  not  sufficiently  considered, 
that  during  the  last  century,  while  all  other  colonies 
belonging  to  European  powers  were  inundated  by 


II.]  SLAVERY   IN   CAPE   COLONY  45 

slaves  (chiefly  imported  by  British  vessels),  the 
Government  of  Cape  Colony  had  always  been  averse 
to  the  introduction  of  slaves;  that  by  various  stringent 
proclamations  their  importation  had  been  prohibited, 
and  that  from  time  to  time  (generally  once  a  year)  a 
special  licence  was  issued  only  for  a  limited  number 
to  be  imported,  upon  the  earnest  representations  of 
the  colonists,  and  proportionate  to  their  increasing 
numbers  and  the  wants  in  agriculture. 

During  the  short  administration  of  the  Batavian 
Government,  from  1803  to  1806,  various  proclama- 
tions and  acts  also  manifested  an  intention  in  that 
Government  to  put  a  speedy  end  to  the  existence  of 
slavery  in  the  colony ;  and  thus,  during  this  century, 
a  very  small  number  of  slaves  indeed  of  the  negro 
race  had  trodden  the  colonial  soil.  The  natural  con- 
sequence was  that  nine-tenths  of  the  slave  population 
consisted  of  house-born  slaves,  who  were  looked  upon 
more  as  family  domestics,  and  treated  like  the  Vernce 
of  the  Romans.  They  were  trained  to  various  trades 
and  professions ;  were  never  worked  in  gangs,  and  in 
fact  enjoyed  all  the  privileges  and  comforts  which 
free  domestics  could  possibly  claim.  The  value  of 
such  slaves  increased  daily,  with  the  increase  and 
greater  demands  of  the  free  population,  and  not  un- 
frequently  £400,  £$oo,  and  £600  were  readily  given 
for  a  single  slave  well  instructed  in  certain  trades. 
It  was  but  a  natural  result,  from  such  a  state  of 
things,  that  slaves  of  this  value  should  be  well 
treated,  and  also  that  they  knew  their  rights  and 


46  THREE  GREAT  GRIEVANCES  [LECT. 

how  to  maintain  them  ;  and  although,  no  doubt,  in 
the  course  of  ten  or  twelve  years,  two  or  three 
instances  of  very  severe  ill-treatment  and  even  of 
murder  were  brought  before  the  courts  and  tried,  and 
were  loudly  denounced  by  (what  was  falsely  called) 
the  philanthropic  press,  yet  it  would  be  as  unjust 
to  infer  from  such  cases  a  charge  of  general  ill-usage 
of  their  slaves  against  their  masters  as  it  would  be 
to  lay  to  the  charge  of  the  populations  of  Edinburgh 
or  of  London  the  murders  of  Burke,  of  the  Mannings, 
of  Rush,  and  the  hundred  others,  accounts  of  which 
pollute  almost  every  English  paper. 

Soon  after  the  general  peace  of  1815  it  became  but 
too  apparent  that  the  public  mind  in  England  was 
directed  to  the  total  extinction  of  slavery,  the  leading 
men  of  all  parties  having  openly  avowed  that  in 
having  gained  the  triumph  of  the  abolition  of  the 
slave  trade,  they  only  viewed  this  as  a  stepping-stone 
towards  the  attainment  of  the  greater  measure ;  and, 
as  preparatory  to  that  step,  various  local  laws  were 
introduced  considerably  curtailing  the  authority  and 
power  of  masters  over  their  slaves.  The  most  im- 
portant one  was  a  local  ordinance,  passed  in  1826,  by 
which  a  new  office  of  guardian  or  protector  of  slaves 
was  created,  who,  by  himself  and  his  deputies,  had 
particularly  to  look  to  the  protection  of  their  interests. 
Every  slave  thereby  acquired  a  right  to  compel  his 
master  to  grant  him  his  liberty  if  he  could  obtain  the 
means  of  commanding  his  price  at  a  fair  valuation 
by  persons  indifferently  chosen.  The  hours  of  labour 


II.]  UNPOPULAR   RESTRICTIONS  47 

were  fixed,  and  various  other  stringent  rules  were 
introduced,  at  once  creating  a  power  which  could 
interfere  on  behalf  of  the  slave  in  all  the  domestic 
concerns  of  every  household.  It  may  easily  be 
imagined  how  such  a  system  at  once  produced  an 
alienation  from  that  good  feeling  which  existed 
before  in  these  relations.  The  slave,  heretofore  ac- 
customed to  receive  any  favour  or  indulgence  through 
his  master  or  mistress,  now  saw  another  power  arising 
which  could  grant  these  by  virtue  of  his  office ;  and 
the  masters,  jealous  of  that  power,  frequently  with- 
held, upon  principle,  what  they  would  readily  have 
conceded  as  a  matter  of  grace. 

From  that  moment,  therefore,  that  kindly  feeling 
which  had  before  existed  on  both  sides  may  be  said 
to  have  expired,  and  the  whole  country  began  to  feel 
the  ill  effects  of  this  undue  and  inconsistent  interfer- 
ence. But  the  Home  Government,  not  satisfied  with 
these  colonial  laws,  passed  in  February,  1830,  an 
Order  in  Council,  by  which  a  host  of  protectors  were 
further  appointed  to  be  the  special  guardians  of  slaves 
in  every  district,  and  to  enforce  still  more  stringent 
rules  against  the  slightest  act  of  injustice  committed 
towards  their  slaves,  who  were  expressly  declared 
not  to  be  liable  to  any  punishment  for  preferring  any 
frivolous  complaints  against  their  masters,  "unless 
such  complaint  shall  arise  from  some  malevolent  or 
culpable  motive"  (vide  Section  72  of  the  Order  in 
Council),  while  for  any,  even  the  slightest  contraven- 
tion of  any  of  the  provisions  of  that  Order  in 


48  THREE  GREAT  GRIEVANCES          [LECT. 

Council,  by  the  master  or  mistress,  a  penalty  never 
less  than  £10  nor  more  than  £$oo  is  denounced. 
(  Vide  Section  74.) 

But  the  feature  which  particularly  denounced  this 
Order  in  Council  was  exhibited  in  the  sections  by 
which  every  year  the  proprietors  of  any  slaves  em- 
ployed in  agriculture  or  manufacture  were  required 
to  take  out  from  the  office  of  the  protector,  or  assis- 
tant protector,  a  book  styled  in  the  Order  in  Council 
a  "punishment  record  book,"  in  which  every  such 
proprietor  was  compelled  to  make  himself  (if  he  could 
write),  or  otherwise  cause  to  be  made,  an  entry  of 
every  punishment  of  whatever  kind  he  may  have 
inflicted  upon  every  slave,  detailing  with  the  greatest 
minuteness  every  particular  of  the  offence,  of  the 
punishment,  of  the  witnesses  to  it,  etc.  This  book 
every  such  slave-owner  was  required  to  take  twice 
every  year  to  the  protector  or  assistant  protector 
within  his  district,  and  there  to  swear  to  the  correct- 
ness of  these  entries,  and  if  at  any  time  thereafter 
a  complaint  might  be  preferred  before  any  of  the 
protectors  of  any  punishment  having  been  inflicted, 
and  the  "  record  book  "  did  not  show  a  perfectly  true 
and  correct  statement  of  every  circumstance  con- 
nected therewith,  the  master  was  to  be  tried  for  wilful 
and  corrupt  perjury,  independent  of  the  punishment 
he  might  be  liable  to  in  respect  of  the  complaint 
itself! 

It  is  impossible  to  describe  the  excitement  which 
pervaded  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  colony  when 


II.]  PROTEST  OF  SLAVE-OWNERS  49 

these  provisions  became  known :  the  slave-owners  at 
once,  with  one  consent,  resolved  to  resist  a  law  in- 
volving so  iniquitous  a  principle,  as  that  everyone 
should  be  called  upon  to  enregister  his  own  misdeeds 
and  swear  to  them ;  and  they  sent  from  all  quarters 
some  delegates  to  Cape  Town,  who  there  joined  with 
the  slaveholders  in  and  near  the  town  to  hold  one 
of  the  largest  public  meetings  ever  held  in  the  colony; 
where  they  unanimously  pledged  themselves  not  to 
take  out  these  "punishment  record  books,"  and  in 
the  enthusiasm  of  the  occasion  they  passed  a  resolu- 
tion to  walk  up  in  a  body  to  Government  House  to 
submit  this  their  firm  resolve  personally  to  the 
Governor.  His  Excellency,  having  been  previously 
apprised  of  their  intention  (by  a  deputation  sent  up 
in  advance),  some  3000  to  4000  persons  marched  up 
in  procession  to  Government  House,  and  being  re- 
ceived by  His  Excellency  Sir  Lowry  Cole,  under 
the  stately  oaks  at  the  Grave  Street  entrance,  the 
late  Mr.  Muntingh  and  myself  having  been  called 
to  the  unenviable  task  of  being  their  spokesmen,  had 
the  painful  duty  of  solemnly  assuring  His  Excellency, 
in  the  name  of  the  assembled  throng  and  of  all  the 
slave-owners  throughout  the  colony,  "  that  they  could 
not,  and  would  not,  comply  with  this  law  ";  that  they 
were  ready  one  and  all  to  submit  to  the  penalties 
therein  enacted,  but  implored  His  Excellency  to  release 
them  from  the  operation  of  a  law  which  appeared  to 
them  a  violation  of  every  principle  of  justice.  This 
step  taken  by  the  slave-owners  was  denounced  at  the 

£ 


So  THREE  GREAT  GRIEVANCES  [LECT. 

time  by  the  philanthropic  press  as  an  attempt  to 
intimidate  the  Governor,  but  we  felt  well  convinced 
that  the  hero  who  did  not  quail  under  the  murderous 
fire  of  the  French  when  crowning  the  heights  of 
Albuera,  and  fixing  the  victory  on  that  momentous 
day,  was  not  likely  to  be  intimidated  by  3000  or 
4000  persons  walking  peaceably  up  to  implore  his 
protection  and  sympathy  against  an  iniquitous  law ; 
and  the  result  proved  that  they  had  not  mistaken  his 
feelings  ;  for  although  His  Excellency  (as  might  have 
been  expected)  declared  that  he  could  not  take  upon 
himself  to  annul  or  even  suspend  the  operation  of 
the  law,  he  yet  promised  that  he  would  not  fail  to 
report  to  the  Secretary  of  State  the  great  excitement 
which  this  provision  had  created ;  and  the  colonists 
had  the  satisfaction  of  finding  soon  after  that  under 
an  authority  from  the  Secretary  of  State,  directions 
were  given  to  all  functionaries  not  to  enforce  that 
regulation,  which  thus  became  a  dead  letter,  and  was 
only  "  observed  in  the  breach." 

From  the  manner  in  which  the  Government  was 
thus  interfering  with  the  slave  question,  it  became 
perceptible  to  everyone  that  the  early  abolition  of 
slavery  was  aimed  at;  and  many  of  the  liberal- 
minded  persons  amongst  the  slave  proprietors 
accordingly  determined  to  evince  their  disposition 
to  concur  with  the  Government  in  this  object  as  far 
as  they  could  consistently  with  their  interests,  and 
they  established  a  "  Philanthropic  Society,"  the 
object  of  which  society  was  to  buy  up  all  young 


II.]      PROPOSALS   FOR  GRADUAL  ABOLITION      51 

females  just  reaching  the  age  of  puberty,  to  emanci- 
pate these  immediately,  but  to  place  them  for  three 
or  four  years  with  persons  of  their  own  choice  as 
apprentices  until  they  had  procured  some  little  funds, 
and  had  been  sufficiently  trained  to  be  entrusted  with 
a  state  of  perfect  freedom. 

By  this  means  in  a  few  years  two  or  three  hundred 
young  females  were  purchased  and  manumitted,  thus 
at  once  preventing  any  increase  of  slavery,  and  the 
society  had  so  many  voluntary  applications  of 
masters  or  mistresses  to  confer  this  boon  upon  all 
young  females,  that  want  of  funds  alone  precluded 
the  society  from  extending  its  beneficial  influence 
all  over  the  colony.  They  therefore  endeavoured 
to  obtain  the  support  of  the  Government,  and 
showed  that  by  an  annual  sum  of  £7000  or  £8000 
being  voted  by  the  Imperial  Parliament  for  such  an 
object,  the  operations  of  this  institution  might  be  so 
enlarged  that  within  very  few  years  all  female  slaves 
would  have  been  reclaimed  from  slavery,  that  also 
every  able-bodied  slave  who  might  wish  to  be 
emancipated,  and  who  had  acquired  the  right  by 
law  to  insist  upon  compulsory  emancipation,  might 
have  obtained  the  funds  to  attain  this  object,  so  that 
gradually  and  imperceptibly  slavery  would  have 
ceased  to  exist  in  nine  or  ten  years,  at  a  sacrifice 
to  Great  Britain  of  some  £70,000  or  £80,000  paid  out 
in  a  series  of  years.  But  the  only  reply  that  these 
slave-holders,  who  were  thus  anxious  to  see  liberty 
diffused  without  serious  loss  to  themselves  and  a 


52  THREE  GREAT  GRIEVANCES  [LECT. 

disruption  to  society,  was  that  this  would  never 
satisfy  the  impatience  of  the  British  public,  who 
were  bent  upon  instant  and  universal  freedom  ! 

In  this  manner  their  object  was  paralysed,  and 
in  the  meantime  the  Order  in  Council  was  still 
brought  into  rigid  operation  ;  and  for  the  most  trivial 
offences  a  fine  never  less  than  £10  was  inflicted  on 
every  master  or  mistress  (for  sometimes  even  a  mis- 
tress would  lose  her  temper  and  slap  a  termagant, 
whose  aim  and  pleasure  it  became  to  bring  their 
mistress  to  the  utmost  verge  of  passion) ;  and  in 
more  serious  cases  the  parties  were  tried  by  indict- 
ment, and  very  heavy  penalties  inflicted  ;  and  such 
became  the  universal  detestation  of  the  law  and  its 
effects,  that  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  the  slave- 
owners generally  became  anxious  for  the  day  which 
was  to  put  an  end  to  the  torture  which  they  were 
suffering  under  the  lash  of  this  law. 

That  Act,  so  wished  for,  was  at  length  passed  by 
the  Imperial  Parliament  in  August,  1833,  and  in  the 
beginning  of  the  following  year  a  new  Governor 
(Sir  Benjamin  D'Urban)  came  out  with  express 
orders  to  carry  it  into  operation. 

By  that  Act,  on  the  ist  of  December,  1834,  slavery 
was  for  ever  to  be  abolished  in  the  colony ;  and  the 
late  slaves,  after  passing  through  four  years  of 
apprenticeship,  were  finally  to  be  free  from  all 
control  on  the  ist  December,  1838.  During  that 
interval  of  four  years  the  arrangements  were  also 
to  be  completed,  by  which  the  .£20,000,000, 


ii.]  APPRAISEMENT  OF  SLAVES  53 

generously  awarded  by  the  British  nation  as  a 
compensation  to  the  slave-owners,  were  to  be 
apportioned  out  to  each  colony,  and  paid  over  to 
those  whose  slaves  were  to  be  put  in  freedom. 

The  amount  to  be  awarded  to  each  colony,  and 
more  particularly  to  each  slave-owner,  was  thus  at 
first  altogether  problematical.  Appraisers  were 
appointed  by  the  Government,  who  were  ordered 
to  examine  personally  every  slave,  and  setting  aside 
every  consideration  arising  from  a  pretium  affectionis 
(as  lawyers  term  it),  were  to  bring  them  all  within 
certain  classifications  and  fix  an  average  value  upon 
them. 

This  appraisement  was  conducted  with  perfect 
fairness  (with  the  single  exception  of  the  district 
of  George,  where  it  was  shown  to  be  palpably 
corrupt,  and  was  accordingly  revised  and  amended) ; 
and  the  returns  showed  that  upon  35,745  slaves 
found  within  the  colony  a  sum  of  about  £3,000,000 
would  be  required  to  pay  for  them,  thus  yielding  an 
average  of  about  £85  a  head. 

The  slave  proprietors  at  once  admitted  the  right 
of  the  Government  in  the  exercise  of  its  dominium 
eminens  to  take  from  every  private  person  any 
property  for  the  attainment  of  a  public  good  ;  and 
they  appeared  generally  satisfied,  even  with  this 
appraised  value,  although  in  very  many  instances 
(from  the  prices  I  have  already  stated  that  slaves 
were  readily  sold  for)  it  was  clear  that  serious  loss 
would  be  sustained,  and  chiefly  by  persons  who 


54  THREE  GREAT  GRIEVANCES          [LECT. 

possessed  the  most  valuable  slaves.  But  it  was  soon 
seen  that  this  appraisement  had  still  to  undergo  the 
rule  of  reduction,  and  that  the  object  of  the  appraise- 
ment was  not  to  ascertain  the  average  amount  which 
every  slave-owner  would  receive,  but  only  the  pro- 
portion which  would  be  awarded  to  each  colony  out 
of  the  compensation  fund  of  £20,000,000 ;  and  upon 
that  computation  being  made  by  the  commissioners 
at  home,  it  soon  proved  that  instead  of  £3,000,000 
which  the  slave-owners  at  the  Cape  expected  to 
receive,  the  sum  of  £1,200,000  only  would  be  avail- 
able for  them,  thus  reducing  the  average  value  of 
each  slave  per  head  from  £85  to  £33  12s. ;  and  I 
cannot  give  a  more  striking  instance  of  the  loss  so 
sustained  by  the  proprietors  of  valuable  slaves  than 
by  stating  in  my  own  case  that  for  a  slave  for  whom 
I  had  frequently  refused  £500,  and  might  have 
commanded  £600,  I  found,  according  to  the  highest 
average  for  that  class  of  slaves,  a  sum  of  £60 
nominally  awarded  to  me,  but  by  the  mode  of 
payment  ultimately  received  even  that  pittance 
reduced  to  £47  or  £48. 

This  sudden  and  extraordinary  reduction  in  the 
amount  to  be  received  from  what  had  previously 
been  anticipated  proved  ruinous  to  many  families, 
as  the  capitalists  to  whom  many  of  these  slaves  were 
mortgaged,  foreseeing  that  they  would  not  be  paid 
out  of  the  compensation  fund,  immediately  com- 
menced proceedings  against  the  principal  debtors 
and  sureties,  sold  off  their  goods  and  chattels,  and 


II.]  GRIEVANCES   OF  SLAVE-OWNERS  55 

thus  reduced  many  respectable  families  to  distress, 
if  not  to  actual  want. 

But  the  evils  arising  to  the  colonists  did  not  stop 
there.  When  the  assistant  commissioners  in  the 
colony  had  so  far  proceeded  in  their  work  as  to 
make  out  the  proportionate  sums  which  were  to 
be  awarded  to  each  proprietor,  it  became  known 
that  these  amounts  could  only  be  received  at  the 
Bank  of  England,  and  had  to  go  through  various 
forms,  at  various  offices  in  London,  before  such 
payments  could  be  made.  This  they  at  once  saw 
would  be  placing  them  at  the  mercy  of  certain 
agents,  through  whom  alone  this  could  be  accom- 
plished ;  and  a  very  numerous  meeting  of  slave- 
owners was  again  held  in  Cape  Town,  from  which 
emanated  a  respectful  petition  to  the  Government, 
praying  that  the  amount  awarded  to  each  person 
might  be  paid  them  "in  the  colony,"  either  in  cash 
or  by  Treasury  drafts,  thus  ensuring  to  them  at 
least  the  certainty  of  receiving  the  sums  finally 
awarded  without  any  deductions.  But  this  petition 
was  at  once  rejected  as  inexpedient  or  impracticable, 
and  all  the  slave-owners  (not  ten  of  whom  had  any 
personal  agent  in  England)  were  driven  to  the 
necessity  of  resorting  to  a  few  persons  in  Cape  Town, 
and  Graham's  Town,  who  (setting  themselves  up  as 
alone  acquainted  with  the  requisite  forms)  bought 
up  these  certificates  at  18  to  20,  and  in  the  country 
districts  (I  verily  believe)  from  25  to  30  per  cent, 
discount,  bringing  down  this  paltry  pittance — already 


56  THREE  GREAT  GRIEVANCES           [LECT. 

reduced  to  one-third  of  the  appraised  value  of  their 
slaves,  as  certified  by  the  Government  appraisers 
themselves — still  further  to  about  one-fifth  cf  that 
amount.  And  can  it  then  be  wondered  at,  that 
very  many  persons  thus  reduced  to  absolute  want 
and  ruin  should  have  been  unmeasured  in  their 
abuse  of  a  Government  which,  intent  upon  one 
great  and  laudable  object,  yet  appeared  determined 
upon  carrying  it  through,  utterly  regardless  of  the 
master's  rights  and  interests ;  and  that  some  of  them 
became  so  incensed  against  the  Government  that 
they  have  to  this  day  indignantly  rejected  the  paltry 
sum  awarded  to  them,  although  repeatedly  pressed 
upon  them ;  so  that  the  Colonial  Government  holds 
still  at  this  moment  about  £$ooo  unpaid,  which 
those  entitled  to  receive  it  will  not  take,  although 
tendered  to  them  again  and  again,  as  its  receipt 
would  only  deprive  them  of  what  they  conceive  to 
be  a  legitimate  cause  of  grievance. 

In  this  state  of  feeling  then,  when  most  of  the 
slave-owners  had  seen  their  nominal  compensation 
frittered  away  to  the  smallest  possible  fraction,  the 
sun  rose  on  the  eventful  ist  of  December,  1838,  to 
shed  its  lustre  on  a  day  of  universal  and  unrestricted 
freedom  to  all  persons  in  Southern  Africa ;  and  it  is 
but  just  to  add  that  the  perfect  propriety  of  de- 
meanour with  which  that  blessing  was  hailed  and 
accepted  by  35,000  individuals,  has  fully  established 
their  capacity  for  the  enjoyment  of  those  privileges 
which  they  have  now  possessed  for  thirteen  years. 


II.]  RESULTS   OF  ABOLITION  57 

Yet  no  words  can  adequately  convey  the  effect 
which  that  day  produced  also  on  the  prospects  of 
the  whole  of  the  agricultural  interests  throughout 
the  colony. 

In  and  near  Cape  Town,  where  a  large  population 
of  free  blacks,  and  persons  willing  to  engage  in 
service,  were  found  ready  to  supply  the  place  of 
these  emancipated  slaves,  their  departure  (although 
attended  with  some  inconvenience  and  additional 
expense)  could  in  some  measure  be  supplied  ;  but 
no  pen  can  describe  how,  in  the  country  districts, 
this  migration  was  felt.  Masters  and  mistresses 
who,  up  to  the  evening  before,  had  forty,  fifty,  and 
some  eighty  persons  engaged  in  keeping  up  ex- 
tensive farming  establishments,  saw,  in  one  moment, 
the  whole  of  their  farming  pursuits  and  plans 
destroyed :  no  bribe  nor  entreaty,  1  believe,  did 
avail  in  one  single  instance  to  induce  any  one  of 
these  now  free  persons  to  stay  over  that  day  ;  for 
a  lady  having  a  pet  canary  pent  up  for  months  or 
years  in  a  cage  (the  object  of  her  most  tender  care 
and  affection)  might  as  soon  expect  to  keep  it  in, 
if  setting  the  cage  door  open,  as  that  the  entreaties 
of  their  masters  and  mistresses  would  be  heeded  on 
such  an  occasion ;  and  as  misfortunes,  proverbially, 
never  come  singly,  the  day  for  this  general  eman- 
cipation, without  any  thought  of,  or  reference  to, 
the  general  interests  of  the  colony,  had  been  fixed 
for  the  very  midst  of  the  wheat  harvest,  which  was 
seriously  affected  by  it;  for  although  in  a  very  few 


$8  THREE  GREAT  GRIEVANCES          [LECT. 

instances  some  hands  were  induced  by  large  rewards 
to  stay  just  to  cut  down  the  crop,  yet  they  also 
immediately  followed  their  companions,  all  crowding 
to  the  towns  and  villages,  where  they  could  find 
ready  subsistence  and  easy  work ;  so  that  on  that 
day  not  only  many  of  the  agricultural  farmers  saw 
themselves  reduced  to  poverty  and  distress  by  the 
paltry  payments  they  had  received,  but  were  more- 
over deprived  of  the  only  means  of  cultivating  their 
farms  profitably  for  the  future ;  and  although  this 
state  of  depression  has  in  some  measure  at  present 
subsided  in  and  near  the  capital,  where  many  of 
these  slaves  have  again  voluntarily  returned  to  those 
habits  in  which  they  had  been  brought  up,  and  where 
the  farmers,  from  a  proximity  to  the  market,  could 
afford,  or  at  least  were  compelled,  to  give  somewhat 
remunerating  wages  for  labour,  yet  in  the  eastern 
country  districts  this  was  impossible,  and  the  agri- 
culturists there  found  themselves  totally  deprived 
of  every  vestige  of  labour  to  improve  or  cultivate 
their  farms,  or  even  to  superintend  or  herd  their 
flocks. 

III.  I  shall  now  proceed  to  the  third  and  last 
cause  of  general  grievance  felt  throughout  the 
eastern  province. 

In  my  last  lecture  I  noticed  that  after  the  war 
of  1812  the  Kafirs  had  been  completely  expelled 
out  of  the  Cape  Colony,  and  that  a  number  of 
stockaded  posts,  stationed  at  short  intervals  along 
the  whole  line  of  the  frontier,  effectually  secured 


II.]  ENCROACHMENT  BY  KAFIRS  59 

the  country  against  the  inroad  of  a  single  marauding 
Kafir ;  but  it  was  evident  that  such  a  system  could 
only  be  maintained  by  unceasing  vigilance,  and  by 
a  very  strong  military  force,  chiefly  of  cavalry,  to 
scour  the  intermediate  country;  and  for  upwards  of 
two  years  after  that  period,  in  addition  to  the 
military  detachments,  a  number  of  armed  burghers, 
out  of  every  district,  were  regularly  "  commanded  " 
and  kept  up  under  military  discipline  to  furnish 
these  posts.  I  have  myself  seen  parties  stationed 
along  the  Fish  River,  from  the  Worcester  and  Clan- 
william  districts,  who,  for  eighteen  months,  had  thus 
been  kept  on  this  harassing  duty.  Their  incessant 
complaints,  however,  had  led  to  their  being  gradually 
withdrawn ;  but  unfortunately,  in  consequence  of 
the  great  reduction  of  the  army  at  the  general  peace 
of  1815,  the  military  force  was  not  only  greatly 
reduced,  but  the  strong  and  efficient  body  of  cavalry 
which  had  hitherto  maintained  a  rapid  intercourse 
between  all  these  posts  was  also  removed  from  the 
colony,  rendering  it  necessary  to  abandon  most  of 
these  stations  on  the  outer  line  of  the  frontier,  and 
to  limit  the  defence  of  that  country  to  the  head- 
quarters at  Graham's  Town,  and  one  or  two  other 
isolated  stations. 

The  Kafirs  (and  particularly  those  of  the  tribe  of 
T'Sambie  and  Congo,  who  had  been  dispossessed 
of  their  favourite  haunts  in  Lower  Albany)  at  once 
watched  and  seized  the  opportunity  for  gradually 
recovering  that  country,  and  recommenced  their 


60  THREE  GREAT  GRIEVANCES  [LECT. 

system  of  plunder,  rendering  that  country  so  in- 
secure that  the  inhabitants,  in  November,  1816, 
represented  in  the  strongest  terms  their  distress  on 
the  frontier;  how  all  the  advantages  of  the  great 
commando  of  1812  had  been  lost,  and  that  they 
would  be  compelled  to  abandon  their  farms  on  the 
line  of  that  frontier. 

This  induced  the  then  Governor,  Lord  Charles 
Somerset,  to  repair  personally  to  the  frontier,  and 
in  April,  1817,  he  had  a  formal  interview  with  Gaika, 
T'Sambie,  and  almost  all  the  other  great  chiefs,  who 
(as  usual)  expressed  themselves  most  anxious  to 
maintain  peace,  throwing  the  blame  of  the  depreda- 
tions complained  of  on  young  warriors,  who  would 
go  out  on  these  forays  without  their  sanction  ;  but 
upon  receiving  the  further  assurance  that  no  reprisals 
were  intended,  and  that  the  Government  neither 
wanted  their  land  nor  cattle,  they  seem,  for  a  time, 
to  have  exerted  their  influence  with  some  effect,  for 
the  country  may  be  said  to  have  again  enjoyed  a 
short  interval  of  complete  repose  and  security. 

Many  farmers  from  the  interior,  in  consequence 
gradually  resumed  their  lands  in  the  Zuurveld,  and 
it  was  remarkable  that  the  tribe  of  the  Amakozee, 
under  Gaika,  who  was  at  that  time  directed  by  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Williams,  proved  themselves  to  be  the  most 
faithful  in  carrying  out  their  engagement  with  the 
Government 

The  herds  of  the  farmers  soon  increasing  afforded, 
however,  again  an  irresistible  attraction  to  the  tribes 


ii.]  A  TEMPORARY  CHECK  61 

of  T'Sambie  and  Congo,  who  under  the  cover  of  the 
Kap  and  the  Fish  River  bushes  could  at  any  time 
get  into  Albany ;  and  in  1 8 1 8  the  old  system  of 
plunder  and  forays  again  commenced,  and  was 
carried  on  to  a  great  extent ;  and  what  is  more 
remarkable,  either  from  family  feuds  or  (as  they 
openly  alleged)  complaining  that  Gaika  was  too 
faithful  an  ally  to  the  British  Government,  they 
openly  declared  war  upon  him,  and  in  a  single  en- 
gagement overthrew  all  his  forces,  capturing  his  wives 
and  his  cattle,  and  thus  threw  him  entirely  upon  the 
Government  for  protection. 

As  Gaika  had  certainly  proved  faithful  ever  since 
the  treaty  of  1817,  the  Government  sent  a  military 
force,  under  Colonel  Brereton,  to  support  and  restore 
him  to  his  authority.  A  series  of  engagements 
ensued,  in  the  course  of  which  T'Sambie  and  Congo 
were  utterly  defeated,  Gaika  was  replaced  in  his 
former  position  as  the  great  chief,  and  a  large 
quantity  of  cattle  was  taken,  which  was  divided 
between  Gaika's  tribe  and  such  of  the  farmers  as 
had  been  called  out  in  aid  of  the  military. 

The  force  then  sent  out,  although  quite  sufficient 
to  inflict  chastisement,  was  still  unable  to  shut  up 
and  guard  all  the  passes  into  the  colony,  so  that 
those  tribes  soon  again  recommenced,  or  rather 
continued,  their  hostilities,  displaying  then  all  the 
art  and  ability  in  the  conduct  of  such  wars,  at 
which  they  have  since  become  such  perfect  adepts. 
Watching  their  opportunity  from  the  vantage 


62  THREE  GREAT  GRIEVANCES  [LECT. 

grounds  which  they  held  on  the  eastern  banks  of 
the  Fish  River,  they  made  two  successful  sallies  upon 
two  small  military  patrols  marching  along  that  river, 
in  both  of  which  the  commanders  (Captain  Gethin 
and  Lieutenant  Hunt)  and  a  large  portion  of  the 
military  fell,  the  former  of  whom  (Captain  Gethin) 
was,  without  exception,  one  of  the  finest  officers  in 
His  Majesty's  service,  who  had  commanded  the 
forlorn  hope  in  the  last  daring  assault  of  St. 
Sebastian,  and  had  been  the  first  to  plant  the 
British  standard  upon  those  walls  which  had  twice 
resisted  successfully  the  most  murderous  and  best- 
planned  storming  parties. 

To  punish  such  unceasing  attacks  another  "com- 
mando "  on  a  larger  scale  was  called  out  in  March, 
1819,  under  the  command  of  Colonel  Wiltshire  (the 
conqueror  of  Kelat),  and  this  "  commando,"  from  the 
small  military  force  then  in  the  colony,  was  to  con- 
sist mainly  of  the  armed  lev/e  en  masse  of  the  male 
population  of  the  eastern  and  western  provinces ; 
but  while  these  parties  called  out  from  each  of  these 
distant  districts  were  collecting,  and  their  advance 
impeded  by  that  fatal  disease  (the  horse-sickness), 
which  at  certain  intervals  breaks  out  in  the  eastern 
province  (carrying  off  almost  all  the  horses  kept 
in  the  field),  these  tribes  of  T'Sambie  and  Congo, 
headed  or  rather  excited  (as  in  the  present  war) 
by  one  of  those  witch-doctors,*  who  occasionally 

*  The  name  of  this  witch-doctor  was   "  Lynx."      He  was  sub- 
sequently captured  and  sent  into  captivity   to  Robben  Island,  from 


II.]  DEFEAT  OF  THE   KAFIRS  63 

succeed  in  elevating  them  to  a  state  of  fanaticism, 
adopted  a  plan  which  had  hitherto  been  supposed 
as  impossible  to  expect  from  them.  Emerging  at 
the  break  of  day  from  out  of  the  Fish  River  bush, 
a  force  of  about  eight  to  ten  thousand  men  were 
suddenly  seen  to  blacken  the  eastern  horizon,  ad- 
vancing in  battle  array  upon  the  attack  of  the  very 
headquarters  of  the  military  at  Graham's  Town. 
Two  field-pieces  (six-pounders)  were  providentially 
ready  on  the  spot,  and  these,  with  a  small  military 
force  then  at  hand,  immediately  advanced  out  of 
the  town  to  repel  the  invasion,  but,  surrounded  and 
pressed  by  overwhelming  numbers,  they  were  com- 
pelled to  fall  back ;  the  field -pieces  had  thrice  to 
be  limbered  up  and  take  up  positions  in  the  rear, 
and  it  was  not  until  they  had  taken  up  their  last 
stand  in  and  among  the  few  houses  then  forming 
that  town  that  the  deadly  grape  and  canister  dis- 
charged upon  them  took  effect  and  compelled  them 
to  retire. 

This  display  of  their  force  and  daring,  and  of  the 
precarious  tenure  on  which  the  frontier  was  held,  at 
length  forced  our  rulers  to  adopt  the  suggestion 
which,  years  before,  had  been  pressed  upon  them, 
viz.,  that  it  was  "physically"  impossible  to  protect 
the  frontier  with  the  dense  Fish  River  bush  in  the 


whence  he  made  a  desperate  effort,  with  two  or  three  other  convicts, 
to  escape  by  means  of  a  boat  which  they  seized,  but  in  endeavouring 
to  land  on  the  opposite  shore  of  Blauwberg  the  boat  was  swamped  and 
all  the  runaways  perished. 


64  THREE  GREAT  GRIEVANCES           [LECT. 

possession  of  the  Kafirs,  and  accordingly  the  order 
was  at  length  given  to  Colonel  Wiltshire  to  expel 
the  Kafirs  from  the  country  between  the  Fish  River 
and  the  Keiskamma,  and  to  seize  and  occupy  that 
country,  which  was  more  open  and  easily  defended. 

This  commando  (or  second  general  war)  was  also 
crowned  with  complete  success ;  a  vast  colonial  force 
was  at  length  brought  together,  and  by  a  series  of 
able  and  combined  operations  the  Kafirs  were  driven 
completely  out  of  those  fastnesses,  and  the  country 
between  the  Fish  River  and  Keiskamma  became 
occupied  by  the  Government  forces. 

But  even  then  the  Colonial  Government  was  so 
averse  to  extending  this  colony  that  orders  had 
been  already  issued  to  give  up  again  that  inter- 
vening country  to  Gaika  and  his  tribe,  as  he  had 
ever  since  1813  succeeded  in  impressing  upon  the 
Government  that  he  had  been  inviolably  faithful 
to  them,  and  having  in  fact  owed  his  life  and 
restoration  to  power  to  their  assistance  in  1817. 
Yet  in  the  course  of  these  operations  it  was  found 
that  his  men  were  engaged  among  the  ranks  of 
those  who  had  openly  attacked  Graham's  Town ; 
that  many  of  his  leading  guides  had  taken  a 
prominent  part  therein,  and  that  his  chief  interpreter, 
Hendrik  Nootka,  had  been  shot  in  the  very  act  of 
attempting  to  stab  Colonel  Wiltshire  in  the  attack 
on  Graham's  Town. 

Before  finally  adopting  any  measure  in  regard  to 
that  territory,  Lord  Charles  Somerset  therefore  again 


II.]  AN    UNSATISFACTORY   TREATY  65 

repaired  to  the  frontier  in  1819,  and  there  concluded 
a  formal  treaty  with  Gaika  and  all  the  Kafir  chiefs 
assembled  on  Somerset  Mount,  when  he  pointed 
out  to  them  the  absolute  necessity  which  their 
incessant  attacks  during  the  last  seven  years  had 
forced  upon  the  Government  of  incorporating  that 
tract  of  country ;  and  with  their  entire  concurrence 
the  terms  were  agreed  upon,  by  which  it  was 
stipulated  "  that  all  Kafirs  should  evacuate  the 
country  between  the  Great  Fish  River  and  the 
Kieskamma,  and  from  the  boundary  of  the  colony 
on  the  opposite  side  to  a  line  drawn  from  the 
Winterberg  to  the  sources  of  the  Kieskamma."  It 
was,  however,  further  agreed  that  this  country  should 
not  be  occupied  by  the  farmers  but  lie  open,  form- 
ing, as  it  were,  a  neutral  ground  between  the  two 
nations. 

It  certainly  does  appear  to  us  now,  judging  ex 
post  facto  and  after  a  lapse  of  years,  as  somewhat 
extraordinary,  that  persons  possessed  of  the  in- 
telligence which  distinguished  both  our  then  Gover- 
nor and  those  around  him  should  have  adopted 
a  measure  which  the  most  ordinary  common  sense 
of  any  practical  peasant  at  once  foretold  was  to 
be  again  the  cause  of  endless  dispute,  and,  in  fact, 
of  the  undoing  of  everything  that  had  been  done 
before. 

The  Governor  had  no  sooner  returned  to  Cape 
Town  than  small  parties  of  Kafirs  again  felt  their 
way  into  this  ground ;  and  upon  the  government 


66  THREE   GREAT  GRIEVANCES  [LECT. 

of  the  colony  falling  into  the  hands  of  Sir  Rufane 
Donkin,  as  acting  Governor,  during  the  years  1820 
and  1821,  he  immediately  saw  the  folly  of  such 
treaty,  and,  repairing  to  the  frontier,  he  effected  a 
modification  in  its  terms,  by  which  the  Kafir  chiefs 
at  once  declared,  that  though  they  strongly  objected 
to  isolated  farmers  being  settled  therein  (as  these 
would  be  liable  to  be  plundered,  which  would  bring 
the  nations  again  at  war),  they  yet  agreed  that 
military  posts  should  be  stationed  therein,  and  that 
under  their  protection  a  body  of  British  emigrants, 
who  had  just  then  entered  the  Albany  district,  should 
be  placed  and  concentrated  near  such  posts. 

Upon  this  understanding,  then,  the  military  posts 
of  Frederick's  Burg  and  Fort  Wiltshire  were  estab- 
lished in  this  from  that  time  called  "ceded"  ter- 
ritory, at  each  of  which  it  was  contemplated  to 
keep  an  efficient  military  force  as  a  vanguard  for  the 
protection  of  our  frontier,  and  in  the  meanwhile 
the  attention  of  the  Home  Government  had  been 
directed  to  the  capabilities  of  the  Albany  district, 
and  5000  emigrants  arrived  under  the  aid  of  a  grant 
from  Parliament,  where  lands  were  distributed 
among  them,  which,  it  was  hoped,  would  form  the 
nucleus  of  a  thriving  population,  and  prevent  at 
once  the  reoccupation  of  that  district  by  the  Kafirs. 

Everything  that  an  enlightened  and  humane  policy 
could  devise  was  now  set  on  foot  to  promote  friendly 
relations  with  the  Kafir  tribes.  Fairs  were  estab- 
lished, where  they  might  come  to  buy  and  sell  what- 


II.]  A   REVERSAL   OF   POLICY  67 

ever  they  required  or  wished  to  dispose  of;  passes 
were  offered  to  all  those  who  wanted  to  enter  the 
colony,  and  for  a  short  time  peace  and  amity  seemed 
to  prevail.  But,  unfortunately,  on  the  return  of 
Lord  Charles  Somerset  the  policy  of  occupying  the 
"  ceded "  ground  was  abandoned :  the  post  of 
Frederick's  Burg  was  ordered  to  be  broken  up ;  the 
applications  by  emigrants  for  lands  in  that  district 
were  refused,  and  those  which  had  been  partially 
granted  or  promised  were  revoked,  and  to  their 
surprise  the  Kafirs  saw  that  the  bone  of  contention, 
which  they  had  been  compelled  reluctantly  to  yield, 
was  again  given  up  and  virtually  surrendered  to 
them,  in  consequence  of  which  small  parties  of 
Kafirs  were  seen  again  gradually  taking  possession 
of  that  country ;  and  although  no  open  rupture  took 
place,  and,  on  the  contrary,  every  encouragement 
was  held  out  to  them  to  attend  the  fairs  and  keep 
up  friendly  relations  with  the  recently  -  arrived 
emigrants,  who  freely  entered  with  them  into  trade 
or  traffic,  yet  not  a  month  passed  by  that  some 
cattle  were  not  carried  off,  and  that  some  life  was 
not  lost,  so  that  the  utmost  vigilance  was  required 
to  prevent  a  general  incursion  or  attack  upon  the 
frontier.  To  check  any  attempt  of  that  kind  the 
Cape  Corps,  which  was  now  almost  the  only  pro- 
tection for  the  frontier,  was  gradually  transformed 
into  a  cavalry  corps,  and  they  no  doubt  very 
efficiently  guarded  that  boundary  line  from  any  overt 
attack ;  yet  this  constant  state  of  insecurity  soon 


68  THREE  GREAT   GRIEVANCES  [LECT. 

extended  itself  up  to  the  Winterberg  and  Somerset 
districts,  and  along  the  whole  line  of  that  country 
it  became  quite  impossible  for  any  farmer  to  consider 
his  life  or  property  secure.  In  the  year  1828  the 
old  chief  T'Sambie  died,  and  his  death  was  soon 
followed  by  that  of  Gaika,  in  1829;  and  in  a  short 
time  a  very  perceptible  change  took  place  in  these 
two  great  clans,  which  immediately  bordered  OUT 
frontier.  T'Sambie's  successors  were  Pato,  Kama, 
and  Cobus  Congo  ;  these  had  intermixed  a  good  deal 
with  the  emigrants,  and,  under  the  able  guidance 
and  instruction  of  the  Rev.  W.  Shaw,  had  been 
perceptibly  improved  both  in  their  habits  and  feel- 
ings, and  the  effect  of  such  improvement  was  soon 
apparent  in  their  more  earnest  desire  to  maintain 
peace  with  the  colonies. 

The  Amakozee  tribe,  on  the  contrary,  now  fell 
under  the  sway  of  Macomo  and  Tjalee,  the  first  of 
whom,  although  Gaika's  eldest  son,  not  being  of 
such  high  descent  on  the  mother's  side,  was  not 
acknowledged  as  sole  or  paramount  chief,  but  seemed 
to  derive  an  equal  authority  with  his  younger  brother 
Tjalee.  Writing  of  the  former  (Macomo),  it  is 
singular  that  Colonel  Scott  should  have  prophetically 
stated  in  1822  "that  he  promised  to  give  much 
trouble  to  the  colony,"  although  Colonel  Scott  could 
little  expect  that  during  thirty  years  this  chieftain 
should  prove  so  formidable,  as  he  has  continued  to 
show  himself  up  to  the  present  moment. 

However,   under    their    authority   the   Amakozee 


II.]  ZULU    INVASION    OF   KAFIRLAND  69 

soon  became  more  and  more  daring,  so  that  the 
Government  felt  driven  to  the  necessity  of  estab- 
lishing a  post  at  Fort  Beaufort ;  but  about  that  time 
a  singular  occurrence  took  place,  somewhat  con- 
nected with  this  district,  which  ought  not  to  be 
passed  by  unnoticed. 

Chaka,  the  great  Zulu  chief,  having  depopulated 
this  entire  district,  made,  in  the  year  1828,  a  most 
savage  inroad  upon  Kafirland  Proper,  with  an  over- 
whelming force.  Having  first  overrun  this  district, 
and  ravaged  the  country  of  the  Amapondas,  he 
drove  the  remnant  of  all  these  tribes,  under  the 
name  of  Fetcanee,  upon  the  Kafirs ;  and  such  was 
the  terror  of  their  name  that  the  latter  implored  the 
aid  of  the  Government  against  this  formidable 
enemy.  All  the  burgher  forces  near  the  frontier 
were  again  hastily  called  out  to  take  arms,  troops 
were  collected,  and  this  force  crossing  the  Kye 
advanced  to  the  Umtata,  where  in  some  partial 
engagement  the  dreaded  foe  was  repulsed,  although 
I  believe  it  is  a  matter  of  doubt  to  this  day  whether 
the  foe  thus  defeated  was  part  of  Chaka's  forces, 
or  only  tribes  of  Amapondas  and  others  which  had 
fled  before  him.  However,  after  this  harassing  duty 
was  again  passed  by,  Chaka  retreated,  and  was 
murdered  in  this  district,  near  the  Umvoti  River, 
by  his  brother  Umslangaan,  and  other  councillors 
who  were  about  him  ;  and  these  again,  but  a  few 
days  after,  were  all  butchered  by  Dingaan,  who  thus 
became  undisputed  chief  of  the  Zulus. 


70  THREE  GREAT  GRIEVANCES  [LECT. 

The  force  then  displayed  by  the  Government, 
and  the  aid  immediately  afforded  to  the  Kafirs, 
showed  them  again  the  earnest  desire  of  the 
Government  to  promote  peace  with  them  ;  and  of 
this  they  received  a  striking  proof.  On  an  occa- 
sion a  farmer  having  reported  to  a  military  officer 
that  1 20  head  of  cattle  had  been  taken  from  him, 
a  Lieutenant  Ross  went  upon  some  traces,  which 
led  to  a  Kafir  kraal,  where  these  cattle  not  being 
forthcoming  the  same  number  were  exacted,  and 
given  up ;  but,  a  few  days  after,  the  farmer  having 
reported  that  the  cattle  supposed  to  have  been 
stolen  had  been  found  by  him  elsewhere,  the  whole 
number  of  cattle  were  immediately  again  restored 
to  the  kraal  from  which  they  had  been  obtained. 

From  facts  such  as  these  the  Kafirs  ought  to  have 
seen  that  nothing  but  the  most  friendly  disposition 
was  felt  towards  them  by  the  Government,  but  a 
cankerous  sort  of  irritation  unquestionably  con- 
tinued to  prey  upon  them,  from  the  false  step  which 
the  Government  had  first  taken  in  regard  to  the 
neutral  or  ceded  territory.  The  moment  the  Kafirs 
saw  that  it  was  not  fully  taken  possession  of,  nor 
permanently  occupied,  they  were  unceasing  in  their 
applications  to  be  allowed  at  least  to  depasture 
that  tract  of  country.  This  being  once  conceded 
they  naturally  formed  their  huts,  and  in  the  proper 
season  planted  their  gardens,  thus  virtually  taking 
entire  possession ;  but  depredations  again  taking 
place  within  the  colony,  after  incessant  and  generally 


II.]  A   STATE   OF  UNREST  71 

fruitless  patrols  to  pursue  and  recover  the  cattle,  a 
strong  military  force  had  invariably  to  be  sent  into 
that  territory  to  eject  those  who  had  squatted  down. 
This  was  uniformly  resisted,  when  the  huts  had  to 
be  burnt,  the  gardens  destroyed,  and  the  occupants 
again  driven  beyond  the  Keiskamma ;  until,  after 
one  or  two  seasons,  upon  urgent  applications  on 
the  plea  of  drought  or  bad  crops,  the  like  con- 
cession was  again  made,  to  be  again  followed  by 
the  same  train  of  burning  huts  and  ejectments, 
and  their  expulsion  from  out  of  this  territory. 

In  this  state  of  unrest,  then,  the  whole  of  the 
inhabitants  of  the  frontier  were  kept  during  fourteen 
years. 

There  was  no  war  declared  with  the  Kafirs,  yet 
not  a  week  passed  that  some  robbery  or  plunder 
was  not  committed.  In  this  manner  the  stock  of 
the  neighbouring  farmers  was  gradually  thinned 
and  swept  away  by  incessant  forays,  which  were 
made  either  by  young  Kafirs  whenever  desirous  of 
possessing  themselves  of  a  few  head  of  cattle  to 
purchase  wives,  or  by  older  Kafirs,  who  having 
been  "eaten  up"  in  their  own  kraals,  were  anxious 
to  restore  themselves  to  wealth  or  authority :  in  all 
such  cases,  however,  any  farmer  complaining  of 
these  robberies  was  generally  accused  by  the 
authorities  of  either  exaggeration  or  of  downright 
falsehood  in  his  statements ;  and  when  in  the 
attempt  to  recover  his  cattle  any  collision  took 
place  with  the  Kafirs  the  latter  were  very  generally 


72  THREE  GREAT  GRIEVANCES  [LECT. 

excused,  some  blame  was  uniformly  tried  to  be 
thrown  on  the  farmer,  and  it  became  but  too 
manifest  that  the  Government  did  not  wish  to 
acknowledge  the  existence  of  a  state  of  insecurity, 
which  they  either  hoped  would  gradually  pass 
away,  or,  if  admitted,  would  only  compel  them 
openly  to  declare  and  commence  an  active  war. 

Upon  this  principle,  then,  the  Government  would 
not  admit  the  extent  of  these  injuries,  and  seemed 
inclined  rather  to  expose  their  subjects  to  these 
losses  than  provoke  hostilities  with  an  enemy  whom 
they  were  not  inclined  to  cope  with. 

During  this  same  period  the  capabilities  of  this 
district  of  Natal  had  become  obscurely  known 
from  the  visits  of  Lieutenant  Farewell  and  Captain 
King,  and  the  accounts  of  several  of  their  com- 
panions being  brought  to  the  Cape,  a  society  was 
soon  formed  for  the  exploration  of  Southern  Africa ; 
and  Dr.  Smith,  with  a  very  respectable  party  of 
travellers,  was  fully  equipped  to  examine  and 
report  upon  its  condition  and  advantages.  He 
succeeded  in  exploring  the  Bay  of  Natal  and 
visiting  Dingaan  in  his  chief  town  of  Umkongloof, 
and  the  accounts  which  he  brought  back  first 
attracted  the  attention  of  the  Dutch  farmers  to 
this  district  with  a  view  to  occupying  the  same. 
They  quietly  collected  fourteen  waggons,  and  a  party 
headed  by  Piet  Uys,  Cobus  Uys,  Hans  de  Lange, 
Stephanus  Maritz,  and  Gert  Rudolph,  started  from 
Uitenhage  in  the  beginning  of  the  year  1834,  taking 


ii.]  A   DUTCH   EXPLORING   PARTY  73 

the  lower  route  along  the  eastern  slopes  of  the 
Quathlamba  or  Drakensberg  range,  following 
nearly  in  the  same  track  by  which  Dr.  Smith  and 
his  party  had  explored  this  district.  Their  arrival 
agreeably  surprised  the  small  party  of  English 
who  had  settled  themselves  down  at  the  Bay,  where 
Messrs.  Ogle,  Toohey,  and  King  (who  are  now 
amongst  us,  and  the  only  survivors  of  those  settlers) 
gave  them  a  hearty  reception,  from  whose  accounts, 
and  from  their  own  explorations  of  the  country, 
they  soon  came  to  the  conclusion  that  this  would 
be  a  country  in  every  way  suited  to  them  and 
their  countrymen  ;  they  loitered  here  some  time, 
shooting  and  examining  the  country,  and  would 
have  pursued  their  explorations  still  further  if  they 
had  not  been  suddenly  startled  by  the  astounding 
intelligence  that  the  Kafirs  had  made  a  sudden 
general  irruption  into  the  eastern  province,  and  thus 
provoked  a  third  Kafir  war. 

This  compelled  them  to  beat  a  hasty  retreat, 
and  they  most  providentially  succeeded  in  returning 
unattacked  through  the  whole  of  Kafirland,  while 
the  Kafirs,  having  deserted  their  own  country,  ap- 
peared wholly  intent  upon  laying  waste  the  eastern 
districts  of  the  colony. 

Some  of  the  details  of  that  war,  as  bearing  directly 
upon  the  emigrant  farmers,  and  their  reasons  for  final 
expatriation  in  large  bodies,  must,  however,  be  re- 
served for  a  future  lecture,  as  I  fear  I  have  already 
too  long  trespassed  upon  your  time  and  patience ; 


74  THREE  GREAT  GRIEVANCES      [LECT.  n. 

but  in  the  next  I  hope  I  shall  be  able  to  conclude 
in  setting  them  down  in  this  district,  and  show- 
ing how  they  ultimately  succeeded  in  attaining  that 

object. 

"  Per  varies  casus  et  tot  discrimina  rerum." 

"  Through  such  varieties  of  woe  they  tend 
T'wards  fair  Natal,  where  all  their  toil  shall  end." 


LECTURE    III. 

SEEKING  A  NEW   HOME 

MY  last  lecture  brought  us  to  the  first  ex- 
ploratory visit  paid  by  a  small  party  of 
Dutch  farmers  to  Natal  with  a  view  of  ascertaining 
its  capabilities,  and  to  the  general  state  of  the 
eastern  frontier  at  the  outbreak  of  the  third  general 
Kafir  war  of  1834.  That  year  had  been  marked 
(as  I  have  already  said)  by  Sir  Benjamin  D' Urban 
(without  compare  the  best  Governor  with  which  the 
Cape  Colony  has  ever  been  favoured)  having  assumed 
the  government  of  the  country.  Two  very  serious 
duties  were,  however,  demanded  from  him  im- 
mediately upon  his  taking  the  administration  of  the 
government :  the  one  was  to  organise  and  set  in 
operation  a  Legislative  Council,  which  was  then  just 
granted  to  the  colony,  as  a  stepping-stone  towards 
more  liberal  political  institutions ;  the  next  was  to 
enact  various  laws  and  regulations,  incident  on  the 
abolition  of  slavery  and  the  transition  of  all  the 
slave  population  into  a  class  of  apprentices  for  a 
limited  period.  It  will  be  easily  understood  that  the 
time  of  a  Governor  who  read  attentively  every  paper 

75 


76  SEEKING  A   NEW   HOME  [LECT. 

that  was  transmitted  to  the  Colonial  Office,  and 
who  generally  drew  out  every  document  emanat- 
ing therefrom,  must  have  been  fully  engrossed 
with  these  two  important  duties ;  and  during  that 
period  (I  am  personally  aware)  his  mind  was  much 
harassed  by  the  most  conflicting  accounts  he  received 
as  to  the  state  of  the  frontier  and  our  relations  with 
the  Kafir  tribes. 

The  leading  practical  men  about  the  frontier,  and 
the  public  press  at  Graham's  Town,  represented  that 
frontier  as  in  a  very  alarming  and  precarious  position, 
and  that  the  Kafirs  were  undisguisedly  evincing  a 
very  hostile  feeling ;  while  a  party  in  Cape  Town, 
under  the  influence  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Philip  and  of 
the  editor  of  the  Commercial  Advertiser  newspaper, 
represented  them  as  peaceably  inclined,  and  ready 
to  enter  into  any  arrangements  based  on  the  prin- 
ciples of  justice  and  fairness,  ascribing  all  the  alarming 
accounts  received  from  the  frontier  not  only  to  fear, 
but  to  the  base  and  unworthy  motive  of  trying  only 
thereby  to  have  a  strong  military  force,  and  con- 
sequent large  expenditure,  kept  up  in  that  province ; 
and  the  contemptuous  view  taken  by  that  party  of 
the  representations,  both  of  the  colonists  and  the 
former  Government,  as  to  the  insecurity  of  that  part 
of  the  colony,  cannot  be  better  shown  than  by  quoting 
the  following  passage  from  one  of  the  numbers  of  the 
Commercial  Advertiser,  published  a  short  time  before 
the  arrival  of  Sir  Benjamin  D' Urban  in  the  Cape 
Colony,  to  this  effect : — 


in.]  A   PEACEFUL   POLICY  77 

"  The  murders  by  Kafirs,  of  which  the  Colonial  Govern- 
ment prate  so  fluently,  are  to  be  found  only  on  the  lips 
of  lying  men  or  in  the  imagination  of  the  timid  Cockneys 
and  pin- makers  who  shrink  from  the  bold  eyes  of  a  natural 
man. 

"We  cannot,  however,  allow  a  single  day  to  elapse  with- 
out declaring  that  the  alarm  expressed  with  regard  to  these 
people  (the  Kafirs)  have  no  foundation,  that  the  accusations 
brought  against  them  were  false,  and  that  the  clamour  (we 
feel  convinced)  was  raised  for  the  purpose  of  concealing  a 
system  and  series  of  frauds  practised  by  some  of  the  white 
English  inhabitants  against  and  upon  these  people. 

"When  Government  hear  of  any  outcry  they  have  only 
to  give  a  gentle  hint  that  Dr.  Philip,  or  the  editor  of  this 
paper,  are  about  to  make  a  tour  in  that  direction,  and 
iniquity  will  hide  its  head,  sin  will  be  felled  like  an  ox, 
and  all  the  enemies  of  righteousness  will  be  scattered  like 
sheep ! " 

With  opinions  so  directly  opposed  to  each  other, 
it  is  not  at  all  surprising  that  Sir  Benjamin  D'Urban 
should  have  determined  to  try,  at  least  in  the  first 
instance,  the  policy  advocated  by  those  inclined  to- 
wards peace  and  amity  with  the  Kafirs,  and  he 
accordingly  availed  himself  of  the  very  person  thus 
held  out  as  able  to  "  scatter  the  enemies  of  righteous- 
ness like  sheep,"  and  authorised  Dr.  Philip  (who  was 
going  to  visit  the  Kat  River  Settlements  and  the 
London  Missionary  Institutions  on  the  frontier)  to 
court  a  conference  with  the  principal  Kafir  chiefs ; 
to  announce  to  them  his  Excellency's  friendly  dis- 
position towards  them,  and  his  anxious  desire  to 


78  SEEKING  A  NEW   HOME  [LECT. 

settle  personally  and  permanently  with  them  the 
future  relations  which  were  to  be  kept  up  between 
the  two  countries.  The  reports  which  his  Ex- 
cellency received  during  the  middle  of  that  year 
from  this  and  other  quarters  led  him  still  more  to 
hope  that  peace  would  not  be  disturbed  until  he 
had  personally  visited  the  frontier,  and  towards 
the  end  of  that  year  I  accompanied  our  worthy 
Chief  Justice,  Sir  John  Wylde,  on  circuit,  when, 
after  the  court  business  at  Graham's  Town  was 
ended,  we  were  led  to  anticipate  a  friendly  inter- 
course with  the  chiefs  Macomo  and  Tjalee  at  the 
Chumie,  where  Colonel  Somerset  had  given  them 
an  intimation  of  his  and  our  visit.  But  the  recep- 
tion which  we  received  was  marked  with  such  a 
spirit  of  hostility,  as  compelled  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Chalmers  himself  to  admit  that  the  behaviour  of 
the  whole  of  the  clans  around  him  had  assumed 
so  decidedly  hostile  an  appearance  as  to  render  it 
necessary  for  the  public  functionaries  to  be  prepared 
for  some  general  outbreak  ;  and  on  our  return  to 
Cape  Town,  at  a  numerous  convivial  meeting,  to 
which  Sir  Benjamin  had  invited  myself  and  family 
on  New  Year's  Eve,  I  could  not  help  dilating  some- 
what at  length  on  the  hostile  disposition  of  these 
tribes,  to  which  His  Excellency  appeared  to  listen 
with  particular  interest ;  but  nothing  else  indicated 
the  slightest  disturbance  in  society,  except  (what 
was  only  remembered  afterwards  by  some  of  us) 
that  Sir  Benjamin  had  occasionally  absented  him- 


HI.]        THE    KAFIRS    INVADE   CAPE  COLONY         79 

self  for  a  few  minutes  from  the  party.  Good  humour 
and  hilarity  prevailed  until  we  had  hailed  in  the  new 
year,  when  every  one  gradually  retired  to  their 
homes ;  but  on  the  next  morning,  on  returning  to 
town,  I  found  the  astounding  intelligence  universally 
spread  abroad  that  the  evening  before  His  Excel- 
lency had  received  the  account  that  the  Kafirs,  to 
the  number  of  12,000  or  15,000  men,  had  invaded 
the  whole  frontier  from  every  quarter  on  Christmas 
Day,  burning  and  destroying  every  farmhouse,  mur- 
dering the  inhabitants,  and  carrying  away  all  their 
cattle  and  property. 

Still  doubting  this  information,  from  the  imper- 
turbable good  humour  which  had  prevailed  at 
Government  House  the  night  before,  I  could  not 
resist  applying  personally  in  that  quarter  for  in- 
formation, and  appealing  to  His  Excellency  as  to 
the  truth  of  that  report.  He,  in  his  wonted  gentle 
and  yet  firm  manner,  not  only  confirmed  the  report, 
but  jocularly  observed  that  he  had  received  the  sad 
intelligence  while  we  were  assembled  there,  but  that 
he  had  done  immediately  all  that  could  be  done,  and 
had  not  wished  to  disturb  the  harmony  of  the  party 
by  divulging  such  intelligence. 

That  night  already  all  orders  had  been  given  to 
despatch  every  disposable  soldier ;  to  call  out  all  the 
burgher  forces,  and  to  send  off  Colonel  Smith,  the 
Quartermaster-General  of  the  forces  (and  now  our 
worthy  Governor-in-Chief),  who  had  started  in  the 
middle  of  the  night,  and  in  five  days  reached 


8o  SEEKING  A  NEW   HOME  [LECT. 

Graham's  Town,  where  he  found  everything  in  an 
indescribable  state  of  panic  and  confusion. 

This  attack  had  been  so  little  expected  and  pro- 
vided against  that  a  force  of  about  750  men,  of  all 
arms,  spread  in  small  parties  over  the  whole  eastern 
frontier,  and  from  uoo  to  1200  men,  constituted  the 
whole  military  force  in  the  colony. 

All  that  Colonel  Smith  could  consequently  do 
at  Graham's  Town  was  to  restore  some  confidence 
in  the  community,  to  organise  some  volunteer  force 
on  the  spot,  and  to  guard  the  few  military  posts, 
while  another  levte  en  masse  of  all  the  young 
and  able-bodied  farmers  throughout  the  colony  was 
again  called  out,  and  those  who  did  not  fall  within 
that  "conscription"  were  still  required  to  furnish 
horses,  cattle,  waggons,  supplies  of  food  and  the 
like,  upon  a  vague  promise  of  being  afterwards 
indemnified ;  and  in  this  manner  a  very  respectable 
force  marched  immediately  from  every  district  of 
the  colony,  fully  equipped  by  their  own  relatives 
and  friends.  And  chiefly  with  this  force,  animated 
by  the  greatest  enthusiasm,  and  aided  by  one  or 
two  regiments,  which  subsequently  reached  the 
colony,  Sir  Benjamin  D'Urban  was  enabled  not 
only  to  expel  the  Kafirs  again  out  of  the  colony, 
but  to  drive  them  across  the  Kye,  where,  after  the 
death  of  Hintza,  he  succeeded  in  dictating  the 
terms  of  their  surrender,  and  to  lay  down  the  basis 
of  what  was  fondly  hoped  would  secure  the  per- 
manent peace  and  tranquillity  of  the  frontier. 


in.]  GOVERNOR   D'URBAN'S   PLAN  81 

It  is  not  my  purpose,  nor  does  it  belong  to  the 
object  of  these  lectures,  to  enter  into  a  detail  of  the 
military  or  political  arrangements  effected  by  that 
excellent  Governor.*  It  will  suffice  to  state  that 
chiefly  owing  to  the  exertions  of  the  burghers,  and 
the  spirit  in  which  they  were  led  by  Col.  Smith,  the 
whole  of  Kaffraria  up  to  the  Kye  was  completely 
cleared  of  the  Kafirs,  and  Sir  Benjamin  dictated  at 
last  to  them  the  terms  upon  which  he  would  accept 
their  submission. 

His  plan  (I  have  reason  to  know)  was  at  that  time 
to  give  out  all  the  lands  between  the  Fish  River  and 
the  Keiskamma  (or  what  was  already  known  as  the 
ceded  or  neutral  territory)  to  such  inhabitants  as 
had  suffered  most  of  the  Kafir  war,  or  to  additional 


*  I  cannot  resist  the  pleasure  of  here  introducing  the  noble  and 
generous  sentiments  lately  expressed  by  Sir  George  Napier  (the 
Governor  of  the  Cape  Colony,  who  had  been  sent  to  supersede  Sir 
Benjamin  D'Urban,  and  to  introduce  an  entirely  new  system  in  our 
relations  with  the  Kafirs)  in  his  examination  before  the  House  of 
Commons,  viz.  : — To  the  question  put  by  Mr.  Hawes  (question  1600) : 
Are  you,  or  are  you  not,  disposed  to  think  that,  taking  a  certain 
military  possession  of  Kafirland  beyond  the  boundary  of  the  Keis- 
kamma— that  is  to  say,  establishing  military  posts  there,  as  has  been  done 
by  Sir  Harry  Smith,  with  the  concurrence  both  of  Sir  Henry  Pottinger 
and  Sir  Peregrine  Maitland — has  been  so  far  successful  that  it  has 
prevented  an  irruption  of  the  Kafirs  into  the  colony  proper  ?  Answer  : 
I  think  certainly  it  has.  I  went  out,  if  I  had  any  prejudice  at  all, 
with  a  prejudice  against  the  colonists,  and  against  that  former  occupa- 
tion of  the  ground  by  Sir  Benjamin  D'Urban  and  Sir  Harry  'Smith, 
and  thinking  that  it  would  be  better  not  to  have  them.  My  own  experi- 
ence and  what  I  saw  with  my  own  eyes  have  confirmed  me  that  I  was 
wrong,  and  that  Sir  Benjamin  D'Urban  was  perfectly  right ;  that  if 
he  meant  to  keep  Kafirland  under  British  rule  the  only  way  of  doing 
G 


82  SEEKING  A  NEW   HOME  [LECT. 

emigrants  or  discharged  soldiers  and  officers ;  to  give 
out  these  lands  under  the  express  condition  of  per- 
sonal occupation,  and  thus  to  form  a  belt  of  a  dense 
European  population  in  advance  of  the  Fish  River 
fastnesses.  He  intended  further  to  allocate  the 
country  between  the  Keiskamma  and  the  Kye 
among  such  of  the  Kafirs  as  had  submitted,  but 
to  keep  over  them  an  efficient  military  force  and 
a  magisterial  control ;  and  he  intended  still  further 
to  urge  upon  the  Local  Legislature  and  the  Home 
Government  to  compensate  liberally,  if  not  fully,  all 
those  who  had  been  bond  fide  sufferers  in  the  war. 

These  losses  had  been  inquired  into  with  the 
greatest  care  and  minuteness,  and  the  official  returns 
showed  that  those  sustained  on  the  immediate  frontier 
amounted  to : — 

456  farmhouses  burnt  and  totally  destroyed. 
350  others  partially  pillaged  and  gutted. 
60  waggons  captured  by  the  Kafirs  and  destroyed. 

5,715  horses,  j     taken  and 

111,930  head  of  horned  cattle,  and    >  irrecoverably 
161,930  sheep,  J          lost; 

amounting  in  value  to  upwards  of  £300,000,  inde- 
pendent of  the  losses  by  persons  who  contributed  to 
the  outfitting  of  the  various  "  commandos  "  from  each 
district. 

A  few  thousand  recaptured  cattle  were,  however, 

so  was  by  having  a  line  of  forts  and  maintaining  troops  in  them.  No 
doubt  it  must  be  so,  and  if  all  those  forts  were  well  garrisoned  and 
provisioned  it  would  answer  very  well. 


in.]  AN   ASTOUNDING   DECLARATION  83 

all  the  trophies  of  the  war,  and  the  feelings  of  the 
inhabitants  may  easily  be  guessed  at  when  amongst 
these  many  breeding  cattle  and  entire  spans  of  oxen 
were  recognised  by  their  former  owners,  but  who 
upon  reclaiming  them  were  told  that  they  could  not 
be  surrendered,  as  they  were  to  be  publicly  sold  in 
order  to  compensate  for  part  of  the  expenses  of 
war,  but  that  "they"  were  hereafter  to  get  ample 
compensation.  But  what  were  their  feelings,  and 
those  of  their  gallant  commander,  when,  after  having 
suffered  these  losses  and  encountered  the  dangers 
of  a  most  harassing  war  of  fifteen  months'  duration, 
a  despatch  was  received  from  the  then  Secretary  of 
the  Colonies,  Lord  Glenelg,  dated  26th  December, 
1835  (which  had  been  immediately  published  by  the 
home  authorities  through  the  Blue  Book),  containing 
the  most  unreserved  condemnation  of  the  whole 
policy  and  operations  of  the  war,  abusing  in  un- 
measured language  the  barbarous  manner  in  which 
(the  Secretary  of  State  asserted)  the  war  had 
been  conducted,  and  concluding  with  the  following 
extraordinary  declaration  (as  emanating  from  His 
Majesty's  Government)  touching  the  justice  of  the 
war,  viz. : — 

"  Through  a  long  series  of  years  the  Kafirs  had  an  ample 
justification  of  war ;  they  had  to  resent,  and  endeavoured 
justly,  though  impotently,  to  avenge  a  series  of  encroach- 
ments ;  they  had  a  perfect  right  to  hazard  the  experiment, 
however  hopelessly,  of  extorting  by  force  that  redress 
which  they  could  not  otherwise  obtain ;  and  that  the 


84  SEEKING  A  NEW   HOME  [LECT. 

original  justice  is  on  the  side  of  the  conquered  (the  Kafirs), 
and  not  (of)  the  victorious  party  !  ! " 


A  communication  more  cruel,  unjust,  and  insulting 
to  the  feelings — not  only  of  the  commander,  who, 
wholly  intent  upon  the  most  pacific  and  conciliatory 
measures  with  the  Kafirs,  had  been  suddenly  attacked 
and  seen  the  country  placed  under  his  authority  and 
protection  invaded,  but  of  the  inhabitants,  who  had 
not  only  been  engaged  in  a  twelve  months'  warfare 
of  the  most  harassing  and  dangerous  character,  but 
who  were  smarting  from  a  system  pursued  during 
fourteen  years  by  the  local  Government  never  afford- 
ing them  redress  for  their  most  serious  losses  and 
grievances  on  this  subject  —  can  hardly  have  been 
penned  by  a  declared  enemy  of  the  country  and  its 
Governor;  and  it  at  once  opened  the  eyes  of  the 
colonists  to  what  they  had  long  suspected,  viz.,  that 
in  the  estimation  of  his  then  Majesty's  Government 
they  were  marked  as  the  aggressors  in  the  war  and 
the  oppressors  of  the  Kafir  race ;  that  the  latter,  and 
not  "  they,"  were  entitled  to  sympathy  and  relief. 
And  that  they  were  not  wrong  in  these  conclusions 
soon  became  still  more  apparent,  upon  their  being 
informed  that  all  their  applications  for  indemnity  for 
the  losses  they  had  sustained  were  rejected ;  that  all 
the  grants  of  land  about  to  be  made  to  persons,  even 
within  the  country  ceded  to  the  Government  ever 
since  the  year  1817,  were  to  be  revoked  and  cancelled, 
and  that  the  Kafirs  were  to  be  fully  reinstated  in  the 


in.]  INSULT  AND    INJURY  85 

possession  of  all  the  lands  which  by  the  terms  of  the 
treaty  of  September,  1835,  they  had  formally  ceded 
to  His  Majesty,  his  heirs  and  successors  for  ever  ;  and 
moreover,  when  they  heard  that  a  Lieut.-Governor 
had  been  appointed,  whose  opinions  (as  publicly 
expressed  in  his  examination  before  a  Committee 
of  the  House  of  Commons  on  the  line  of  policy 
to  be  observed  towards  the  Kafirs)  seemed  at  least 
to  hold  out  the  prospect  that  these  views  of  His 
Majesty's  Government  would  be  carried  out  to  the 
letter. 

To  expect  that  an  entire  population  thus  insulted 
and  injured  should  still  continue  loyally  and  well- 
affected  towards  the  Government  was  as  impossible 
as  to  expect  "that  of  thorns  men  should  gather 
figs,  or  that  of  a  bramble-bush  they  should  gather 
grapes." 

From  that  moment,  then,  the  farmers  throughout 
the  eastern  province  saw  that  the  whole  Hottentot 
race,  who  had  been  their  former  praedial  servants, 
had  been  withdrawn  from  them,  and  were  fast 
assuming  a  certain  "nationality"  within  the  colony. 
They  had  had  the  few  slaves  they  possessed  taken 
from  them  at  a  ridiculous  compensation,  which 
several  had  refused  to  accept ;  and  they  now  lastly 
found  their  houses  and  farms  burnt  and  destroyed, 
their  stocks  and  herds  taken  from  them,  without  a 
chance  of  redress  or  indemnity ;  and  from  the  policy 
at  once  laid  down  by  the  Home  Government  they 
further  clearly  saw  that  their  lives  and  future  pro- 


86  SEEKING  A  NEW  HOME  [LECT. 

perties  would  for  ever  be  endangered,  and  that  even 
the  day  of  their  again  recovering  their  former  wealth 
would  as  certainly  be  marked  by  another  irruption 
and  the  sweeping  away  of  their  newly-acquired  herds, 
as  effects  must  follow  causes. 

From  that  moment,  therefore,  it  may  be  said  that 
the  determination  to  quit  the  land  of  their  fathers 
became  general  and  universal,  and  the  leading 
families  in  the  Oliphant's  Hoek,  Gamtoos  River, 
along  the  Fish  River,  and  Somerset,  forming  them- 
selves into  little  knots,  at  once  prepared  for  this 
"  Exodus,"  although  there  were,  no  doubt,  some 
persons  or  families,  who  joined  this  emigration,  who 
had  also  some  private  or  personal  cause  for  thus 
expatriating,  as,  for  instance,  the  Greylings,  for 
having  been  indicted  and  severely  mulcted  at  the 
Circuit  Court  at  Uitenhage  for  contravening  the 
ordinance  for  the  abolition  of  slavery ;  W.  S.  van 
der  Merwe,  for  having  a  personal  quarrel  with  the 
civil  commissioner  of  his  district ;  the  late  unfor- 
tunate Retief,  for  having  been  insulted  (as  he  con- 
ceived) by  the  Lieutenant-Governor  of  the  eastern 
province ;  and  Piet  Uys,  on  account  of  his  wife 
having  been  committed,  in  his  absence,  by  virtue  of 
a  warrant  of  a  local  magistrate,  and  taken  before 
him  in  custody  as  a  prisoner.  Yet  these  were 
but  "  drops  "  in  the  ocean  of  emigration,  an  ocean 
which,  from  that  moment,  began  irresistibly  to  flow 
into  the  interior  of  Africa,  and  from  thence  into 
Natal. 


ill.]  THE   BEGINNING   OF  THE   TREK  87 

The  beginning  of  the  year  1836  was  marked  by 
all  the  farms  of  those  intending  emigrants  getting 
into  the  market.  They  were  readily  bought  up  by 
numerous  speculators  at  Graham's  Town,  Somerset, 
and  adjoining  places  for  ridiculously  low  prices,  and 
everything  showed  a  settled  determination  to  carry 
out  this  expatriation  on  an  extensive  scale.  The 
local  Government  did  all  they  could  "indirectly," 
through  the  magistracy  and  the  clergy,  to  point  out 
the  illegality  and  dangers  of  such  a  step  ;  rumours 
were  indirectly  spread  that  the  Government  could 
enforce  the  provisions  of  an  English  writ  of  Ne  exeat 
Regno  to  prevent  this  emigration,  and  for  a  moment 
some  little  hesitation  was  apparent  in  their  move- 
ments, but  a  reply  of  the  new  Lieutenant-Governor, 
Stockenstrom,  to  an  address  from  the  inhabitants  of 
Uitenhage,  in  August,  1836,  upon  his  assuming  his 
government,  soon  removed  all  doubt  on  that  subject, 
for  in  that  reply  he  made  use  of  these  remarkable 
words : — 

"  It  is  but  candid  at  once  to  state  that  I  am  not  aware 
of  any  law  which  prevents  any  of  His  Majesty's  subjects 
from  leaving  his  dominions  and  settling  in  another  country, 
and  such  a  law,  if  it  did  exist,  would  be  tyrannical  and 
oppressive ! " 

This  unreserved,  though  perhaps  injudicious,  ex- 
pression of  his  opinion  at  once  settled  all  their 
doubts,  and  soon  after  this  the  first  party,  of  about 
200  persons,  headed  by  Hendrik  Potgieter,  crossed 


88  SEEKING  A  NEW  HOME  [LECT. 

the  Orange  River.*  Bidding  for  ever  farewell  to  the 
Cape  Colony  they  advanced  to  Thaba  'Nchu,  where 
the  Barolong  chief,  Moroko  (who  at  that  time  was 
under  the  spiritual  direction  of  one  whom  I  am 
happy  to  see  sitting  near  me,  as  a  member  of  this 
society,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Archbell),  gave  them  a  most 
friendly  reception,  where  they  obtained  every  facility 
in  depasturing  their  cattle. 

These  were  soon  followed  by  a  more  numerous 
and  wealthy  party  from  Graaff-Reinet,  headed  by 
Gert  Maritz,  and  these  were  again  succeeded  by 
other  large  parties  from  the  Uitenhage  and  Albany 
divisions,  headed  by  the  old  patriarch,  Jacobus  Uys, 
by  Carl  Landman,  Gert  Rudolph,  and  others. 

Their  numbers  thus  fast  increasing  in  the  Barolong 
territory  soon  gave  rise  to  divisions,  and  the  older 
emigrants,  making  way  for  the  later  arrivals,  advanced 
gradually  along  the  banks  of  the  Vaal  River  (or  Ky 
Gariep),  in  a  northerly  direction,  until  they  came  into 
contact  with  the  numerous  and  powerful  tribe  of  the 
Matabelee  under  Mazulekatze. 

It  is  supposed  that  this  sanguinary  chieftain,  having 
been  frequently  attacked  by  the  Zulu  and  Griqua 
forces  in  that  direction,  was  always  particularly 
jealous  of  any  approach  from  that  quarter.  But  the 
farmers,  of  course,  unaware  of  this  disposition,  con- 

*  A  small  party,  headed  by  Carel  Triechard,  had  preceded  these, 
and  they  advanced  as  far  as  Delagoa  Bay,  but  were  seized  with  the 
coast  fever,  and  only  two  survived  of  that  whole  party,  who  got  back 
to  this  district  two  years  after,  and  are  now  still  residing  here. 


III.]  ATTACKED  BY  THE   MATABELEE  89 

tinued  gradually  to  move  onwards,  quite  unsuspicious 
of  danger,  when  their  advanced  party  was  suddenly 
attacked,  and  twenty-eight  of  their  number  barbar- 
ously murdered.  After  this  partial  success  the 
Matabelee  attacked  another  small  party,  equally 
advancing  at  a  little  distance  from  the  former,  and 
these,  also  being  totally  unprepared,  were  unable  to 
offer  any  effectual  resistance,  and  some  twenty-five 
men  and  women  were  also  massacred,  and  their 
waggons  and  properties  destroyed  and  plundered ; 
but  a  few  of  their  party  fortunately  escaped  to  warn 
the  numerous  little  parties,  who  were  still  spread 
about  those  vast  plains,  of  the  impending  danger. 
They  had  scarcely  collected  themselves  in  a 
"  laager "  *  of  about  fifty  waggons  when  they  were 
attacked  by  the  whole  army  of  the  Matabelee,  who 
rushed  in  upon  them,  endeavouring  to  force  them- 
selves through  the  waggons,  and  a  most  desperate 
struggle  ensued,  in  which  the  Matabelee  were,  however, 
finally  repulsed,  but  not  without  sweeping  away  the 
whole  of  the  cattle  belonging  to  the  emigrant  farmers, 
which  they  had  been  unable  to  get  within  the  en- 

*  These  "  laagers,"  or  camps,  were  formed  by  their  waggons  being 
brought  up  in  a  square,  the  poles  and  waggon  "  gear "  of  one  waggon 
being  firmly  secured  under  the  "perch"  of  the  next  waggon;  and 
when  time  admitted  branches  of  the  thorny  mimosas  were  also  wattled 
in  under  each  waggon,  so  that  no  entrance  could  be  effected  into  the 
enclosure  without  forcibly  tearing  up  all  these  impediments.  It  is 
clear  that  where  the  number  of  waggons  collected  is  not  great  the 
square  formed  by  these  waggons  is  so  small  that  they  could  barely 
secure  their  persons  and  families  within  the  enclosure,  leaving  the 
cattle  outside. 


90  SEEKING  A  NEW  HOME  [LECT. 

campment ;  and  the  Matabelee  succeeded  in  thus 
carrying  away  6000  head  of  cattle  and  upwards  of 
40,000  sheep  as  a  poor  compensation  for  the  loss  of 
the  lives  of  their  best  warriors. 

From  these  repeated  and  desperate  attacks  it  was 
evident  that  the  emigrants  had  encountered  a  most 
formidable  enemy  in  that  quarter,  and  that  all  hopes 
of  a  peaceable  advance  in  that  direction  had  to  be 
abandoned ;  but  the  loss  of  their  cattle  prevented 
them  from  either  advancing  or  retreating  until  some 
messengers,  whom  they  had  despatched  to  Thaba 
'Nchu,  succeeded  in  reaching  that  place  and  acquaint- 
ing Moroko  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Archbell  with  their 
precarious  situation.  These  persons  generously  pro- 
cured and  despatched  a  sufficient  number  of  oxen  to 
their  encampment,  from  whence  they  thus  effected 
their  retreat,  and  returned  in  safety  to  Moroko's 
residence. 

Upon  bringing  this  account  of  their  disasters  and 
losses  to  their  fellow-countrymen  the  more  numerous 
and  powerful  clans,  which  had  remained  peaceably 
concentrated  about  Thaba  'Nchu,  resolved  to  take 
ample  revenge  for  these  murders  and  to  recover  the 
cattle  stolen  from  their  countrymen,  and  a  party  of 
about  200  warriors,  headed  by  Gerrit  Maritz,  crossed 
the  Vaal  River,*  and  making  a  flank  movement  across 

*  The  Vaal,  or  Yellow  River,  by  the  natives  called  Ky  Gariep, 
derives  its  name  from  the  discoloured  nature  of  its  stream.  It  forms 
at  present  the  northern  boundary  of  the  Sovereignty  district,  and  is 
likely  to  acquire  some  celebrity  by  the  recent  treaty  concluded,  by 


HI.]  PIETER  RETIEF  91 

his  western  boundaries,  attacked  one  of  Mazulekatzes' 
principal  military  towns,  named  Mosega,  where  they 
killed  several  hundreds  of  his  principal  warriors,  and 
recovered  about  7000  head  of  cattle,  together  with 
the  waggons  which  the  Matabelee  had  taken  to  that 
town  in  triumph,  after  the  attacks  they  had  made 
upon  the  first  small  parties  which  had  incautiously 
advanced  into  their  territories. 

Shortly  after  their  return  from  this  successful  re- 
taliation, and  while  they  were  discussing  their  future 
plans,  disunion  and  rivalry  among  their  leaders  were 
again  beginning  to  show  themselves,  when  the  ill- 
fated  Pieter  Retief  joined  them  with  a  small  party, 
and  his  name  and  character  (while  one  of  the  "  com- 
mandants "  appointed  by  the  Government  of  the 
eastern  frontier)  stood  deservedly  so  high  that  by 
one  consent  he  was  chosen  to  be  their  "  commandant- 
general,"  to  whom  all  the  parties,  then  in  those  regions, 
gave  in  their  willing  submission. 

A  few  details  of  the  life  and  history  of  this  first 
great  "  martyr  "  in  the  settlement  of  this  district  may 
not  prove  uninteresting. 

Descended  from  one  of  those  French  Protestant 
families  which  found  refuge  in  the  Cape  Colony  on 
the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  his  grand- 
parents had  obtained  a  plot  of  freehold  land  in  the 

having  been  fixed  by  the  Assistant  Commissioners  with  the  Trans- 
vaal farmers,  as  the  permanent  line  of  demarcation  between  Her 
Majesty's  subjects  and  those  to  whom  (it  is  said)  entire  independence 
has  been  promised. 


92  SEEKING  A  NEW   HOME  [LECT. 

beautiful  glen  of  Waggonmakers'  Valley,  near  the 
Paarl,  where  both  soil  and  climate  had  marked  the 
spot  as  favourable  to  the  cultivation  of  the  orange 
and  the  vine,  and  there  his  father  enjoyed  a  respect- 
able living  by  the  annual  sale  of  some  millions  of 
oranges  and  a  considerable  vintage. 

Pieter  Retief  was  there  born,  and  brought  up  by 
his  father  with  a  view  to  continue  that  easy  and 
profitable  living ;  but  his  active  and  restless  dis- 
position led  him,  as  he  advanced  to  manhood,  to 
emancipate  himself  from  the  mere  drudgery  of  this 
rural  life,  and  he  first  commenced  by  carrying  on 
some  trade  with  the  interior,  when  the  arrival  of  the 
first  British  emigrants  into  the  eastern  province  in 
1820  drew  his  attention  to  that  part  of  the  colony. 
The  Government  requiring  some  person  of  activity 
and  means  to  contract  for  some  time  to  supply  these 
emigrants  with  certain  allowances  and  rations  until 
they  had  been  able  to  provide  for  their  own  sub- 
sistence, he  was  introduced  and  recommended  to  the 
Government  by  my  deceased  parent  as  a  fit  and 
proper  person  for  that  purpose,  who,  moreover,  be- 
came his  surety  for  the  due  and  faithful  discharge 
of  his  contract.  This  caused  his  settling  down  on 
the  frontier,  where  his  attention  to  his  contract,  and 
his  liberality  of  conduct,  ingratiated  him  with  the 
settlers,  and  established  that  good  feeling  which  ever 
afterwards  prevailed  between  them. 

After  the  contract  for  the  supply  of  these  emigrants 
had  ceased  he  engaged  in  large  contracts  for  erecting 


Hi.]  PIETER   RETIEF  93 

public  buildings  for  the  Government,  and  at  first 
amassed  a  very  respectable  fortune ;  but  the  failure 
of  some  of  his  sub-contractors,  and  the  number  of 
his  various  avocations,  afterwards  involved  him  in 
serious  pecuniary  difficulties.  But  this  did  not  in 
any  way  affect  the  estimation  in  which  he  was  held, 
both  by  the  community  and  the  Government,  having 
been  appointed  one  of  the  "commandants"  on  the 
frontier,  a  situation  which,  although  of  a  somewhat 
anomalous  character,  was  generally  given  to  persons 
who,  as  field-cornets,  had  rendered  faithful  services 
to  the  country,  and  was  always  considered  to  give 
the  incumbent  some  kind  of  magisterial  authority  in 
his  district.  Having  returned  to  his  farm,  and  being 
altogether  engaged  in  agricultural  pursuits  in  1834, 
he  had  been  a  very  serious  loser  in  the  Kafir  war 
which  then  broke  out ;  and  after  the  peace,  which 
had  been  concluded  towards  the  end  of  the  year 
1835,  he  saw  with  dread  and  fear  a  system  (if  not 
encouraged,  at  least)  marked  out  by  the  local 
authorities  of  allowing  Kafirs  again  to  pass  through 
and  congregate  at  whatever  places  they  thought  fit 
within  the  colony.  He  not  only  strongly  opposed 
this,  but  apprehended  such  roving  Kafirs  and 
Hottentots  wherever  he  found  them  lurking  about, 
and  whenever  they  were  unable  to  give  an  account 
of  themselves.  But  in  sending  these  persons  in 
custody  to  the  nearest  magistrate  he  found  that 
they  were  not  only  immediately  liberated,  but  he 
was  officially  censured  for  taking  up  persons  not 


94  SEEKING  A  NEW  HOME  [LECT. 

actually  apprehended  in  the  commission  of  crime. 
He  soon  saw,  from  the  tone  thus  assumed  by  the 
authorities,  that  there  was  no  longer  hope  for 
the  security  of  property  along  the  frontier,  and  he 
determined  accordingly  to  follow  the  example  set 
by  the  first  migrating  farmers.  He  also  joined  in 
some  addresses,  presented  to  the  newly-appointed 
Lieutenant  -  Governor,  Sir  Andries  Stockenstrom, 
complaining  of  this  state  of  insecurity,  which  led 
to  a  not  very  dignified  correspondence  between  them, 
in  which  the  Lieutenant-Governor  charged  him  with 
misleading  others,  and  threatened  him  with  dismissal 
from  his  "  purely  honorary  "  situation  of  commandant. 
These  threats,  and  the  system  which  he  thus  clearly 
saw  was  about  to  be  again  enforced,  and  which  in 
his  opinion  (fully  confirmed  by  consequent  events) 
would  again  expose  the  frontier  to  harassing  forays, 
and  ultimately  to  another  general  war,  induced  him 
to  sell  off  all  he  possessed,  and  to  combine  with  a 
few  neighbours,  with  whom  (as  I  have  before  stated) 
he  joined  the  emigrant  farmers,  shortly  after  Gert 
Maritz  had  returned  from  his  successful  attack  upon 
Mazulekatze  and  the  Matabelee. 

Having  now  been  unanimously  elected  their  com- 
mandant-general, Retief  immediately  set  about  form- 
ing regular  treaties  of  friendship  and  alliance  with  all 
the  native  chiefs  by  whom  he  was  surrounded  except 
Mazulekatze.  Moroko,  Mosesh,  Tonana,  and  Sikon- 
yella  entered  apparently  with  cordiality  into  all  his 
arrangements ;  and  upon  this  footing  all  the  emigrants 


in.]  PIETER   RETIEF  95 

spread  themselves  over  the  lands  situated  between 
and  along  the  Modder,  the  Vet,  and  the  Sand  Rivers, 
and  gradually  formed  themselves  into  a  more  settled 
form  of  government.  Their  numbers  were  about 
that  time  also  increased  by  another  large  clan,  headed 
by  the  venerable  patriarch  Jacobus  Uys,  then  about 
seventy  years  of  age,  and  his  eldest  son,  Pieter  Uys, 
who,  having  already  visited  this  district  before, 
cherished  the  idea  of  settling  down  here  in  pre- 
ference to  going  further  into  the  interior  of  Africa. 
This  party  issued  a  manifesto  declaratory  of  their 
intention  to  shape  their  course  towards  Natal,  and 
to  secede  from  all  those  parties  who  seemed  more 
intent  to  occupy  the  banks  of  the  Vaal  River,  or 
what  is  now  called  the  Sovereignty,  and  even  to 
proceed  eastward  to  Delagoa  Bay.  This  determina- 
tion of  the  clans  of  Uys,  Moolman,  and  Potgieter 
seems  to  have  induced  Retief  also  to  follow  their 
track,  and  he  sent  exploring  parties  from  the  Sand 
River,  who  at  length  succeeded  in  finding  two  or 
three  paths  across  the  Quathlamba  or  Draaksberg, 
which  might  easily  be  made  passable  for  waggons ;  for 
up  to  that  time  every  attempt  to  cross  that  mountain 
range  by  waggons  from  the  Zuurberg  to  the  west 
up  to  the  Olivier's  Pass,  at  the  extreme  north-east 
extremity  of  our  district,  had  failed. 

Retief  succeeded  with  his  party  in  crossing  at  one 
spot  and  reached  Port  Natal  in  safety,  where  he  met 
with  a  hearty  reception  from  the  British  emigrants, 
who  (strange  to  say)  had  also  formed  themselves  into 


96  SEEKING  A  NEW   HOME  [LECT. 

a  little  independent  community ;  for,  upon  Captain 
Gardiner,  of  the  navy,  arriving  among  them  and 
asserting  a  magisterial  authority  over  them,  under 
the  provisions  of  an  extraordinary  law  passed  by  the 
British  legislature,  and  entitled  "the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope  Punishment  Bill,"  which  he  promulgated  among 
them,  they  at  once  repudiated  his  interference  and 
maintained  their  independence  from  all  authority 
except  from  such  as  would  emanate  from  themselves, 
in  consequence  of  the  then  Secretary  for  the  Colonies, 
Lord  Glenelg,  having  expressly  "disclaimed  in  the 
most  distinct  terms  any  intention  on  the  part  of  His 
Majesty's  Government  to  assert  any  authority  over 
any  part  of  this  territory."  This  mutual  feeling 
of  independence  seemed  to  serve  as  a  bond  of  union 
between  them ;  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
if  a  person  like  Retief  had  continued  to  be  the 
acknowledged  head  of  the  Dutch  emigrants,  that 
a  more  firm  and  lasting  tie  would  have  bound  them 
together. 

Pieter  Retief,  however,  in  the  conscientious  view 
which  he  had  always  taken  of  these  matters,  felt  that 
as  both  Chaka  and  Dingaan  had  nominally  given 
away  this  territory  to  various  other  persons  before 
his  arrival,  and  that  the  occupation  of  this  country  by 
him  and  his  followers  might  thereafter  subject  them 
to  disputes,  either  with  the  Zoolah  chiefs  or  with 
such  English  emigrants  as  had  received  such  ill- 
defined  grants  from  the  Zoolah  sovereigns,  he  deter- 
mined to  proceed  in  person  to  Dingaan's  capital  to 


ill.]  ACQUISITION    OF   TERRITORY  97 

negotiate  with  him  a  treaty  of  peace,  and  obtain  a 
formal  cession  of  such  extent  of  territory  as  the 
latter  might  feel  inclined  to  cede  to  him  and  the 
emigrant  farmers.  Upon  reaching  the  Zoolah  chief's 
capital,  "  Umkongloof,"  he  accidentally  found  there 
a  missionary  of  the  Church  of  England  (the  Rev.  F. 
Owen),  who  materially  assisted  in  apparently  dis- 
posing the  chief  to  give  him  a  kind  reception  ;  and 
upon  being  made  acquainted  with  the  special  object 
of  Retief's  mission,  he  at  once  promised  him  a  formal 
cession  of  this  territory  upon  his  first  recovering  back 
for  him  a  quantity  of  cattle  which  Sikonyella,  a 
Mantatee  chief,  residing  on  the  sources  of  the 
Caledon  River,  had  recently  taken  from  him.  Retief 
accepted  these  terms,  and  returning  to  this  district 
at  once  called  together  several  of  the  parties  who 
were  preparing  to  settle  down  in  this  territory. 
They  determined  upon  an  attack  on  Sikonyella,  but 
before  doing  so  sent  messengers  to  him  demanding 
restitution,  with  a  significant  notice  that  it  would  be 
enforced ;  and  this  communication  had  the  desired 
effect,  for  Sikonyella  immediately  gave  up  700 
head  of  cattle,  together  with  sixty  horses  and  some 
guns,  which  he  and  his  tribe  had  at  various  times 
captured  from  small  immigrating  parties  of  farmers. 
During  these  proceedings,  which  took  place  during 
the  last  months  of  the  year  1837,  nearly  1000  waggons 
had  already  descended  and  passed  down  the  slopes 
of  the  Draaksberg  into  this  district;  and  the  emigrant 
farmers  finding  the  country  entirely  denuded  of  all 


98  SEEKING  A  NEW   HOME  [LECT. 

population  (with  the  single  exception  of  one  small 
party  under  the  chief  Matuan,  who  now  still  occupies 
nearly  the  same  ground),  they  spread  themselves  over 
the  whole  of  the  Klip  River  division  down  to  the 
Bushman's  River,  where  the  remains  of  thousands 
of  stone  kraals  clearly  indicated  that  a  very  dense 
population  must  have  once  been  settled  down  ;  thus 
also  giving  a  promise  of  the  great  fertility  of  the 
soil,  as  it  could  not  otherwise  have  maintained  so 
large  a  population. 

Upon  Retief's  return  to  that  part  of  this  district, 
on  his  way  to  Dingaan  with  the  cattle  surrendered 
by  Sikonyella,  to  be  delivered  to  the  former,  a  sad 
presentiment  seems  to  have  come  over  many  of  the 
heads  of  the  parties,  who,  however,  then  still  acknow- 
ledged Retief  as  their  leader.  Gerit  Maritz  proposed 
that  he  should  proceed  to  Dingaan  with  the  cattle 
recovered,  taking  only  three  or  four  men  with  him, 
arguing,  very  justly,  that  the  insignificance  of  such 
a  force  would  be  its  best  safeguard.  But  Retief 
appeared  to  have  desired  to  show  Dingaan  some- 
thing like  a  respectable  force,  and  insisted  upon 
taking  some  forty  or  fifty  of  his  best  horsemen  with 
him,  leaving  it,  however,  optional  to  any  person  to 
accompany  him  or  to  remain  behind.  This  only 
induced  an  additional  number  of  spirited  young 
men  to  join,  and  during  the  last  week  in  January, 
1838,  Pieter  Retief,  accompanied  by  seventy  of  the 
most  respectable  and  picked  men  from  among  the 
emigrants,  with  about  thirty  young  Hottentots  and 


in.]  TREACHERY   OF   DINGAAN  99 

servants  riding  or  leading  their  spare  horses,  formed 
an  imposing  cavalcade,  with  which  he  crossed  the 
Umzinjaate  (or  Buffalo  River),  and  on  the  2nd  of 
February  arrived  at  Umkongloof  (Dingaan's  capital), 
and  delivered  over  the  cattle  recovered  from  Sikon- 
yella,  with  the  receipt  of  which  Dingaan  expressed 
himself  highly  satisfied  ;  and  having  collected  several 
of  his  regiments  from  the  neighbouring  kraals,  he 
entertained  them  for  two  days  with  their  favourite 
sham-fights,  which  give  a  fearful  representation  of 
their  mode  of  warfare.  Dingaan  had  fixed  the 
4th  of  February  for  signing  a  formal  cession  of  the 
whole  of  this  district  to  Pieter  Retief,  for  himself  and 
the  emigrant  farmers  for  ever ;  and  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Owen,  still  then  residing  with  Dingaan,  was  requested 
to  draw  out  and  witness  the  instrument,  which  he 
accordingly  did  in  English,  and  to  this  document 
Dingaan  and  some  of  his  principal  councillors  affixed 
their  marks,  after  the  tenor  thereof  had  been  fully 
interpreted  to  them  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Owen.  Retief's 
business  being  thus  satisfactorily  ended  he  made 
his  arrangements  to  depart  the  next  morning,  when 
Dingaan  desired  him  to  enter  his  kraal  once  more 
to  take  leave  of  him,  requesting,  however,  that  his 
party  should  not  enter  armed,  as  this  was  contrary  to 
their  usage  ;  and  this  Retief  unguardedly  did,  leaving 
all  their  arms  piled  up  outside  of  the  kraal,  while 
they  sent  their  "achter  ryders"  to  fetch  and  saddle 
their  horses.  Upon  approaching  Dingaan  in  his 
kraal  they  found  him  surrounded  (as  usual)  by  two 


loo  SEEKING  A   NEW   HOME  [LECT. 

or  three  of  his  favourite  regiments,  when,  after  con- 
versing with  Retief  and  some  of  his  leading  men  in 
the  most  friendly  manner,  he  pressed  them  to  sit 
down  a  little  longer,  offering  them  their  "stirrup 
cup,"  in  some  "  chuallah,"  or  maize  beer,  which  the 
Kafirs  enjoy  as  a  favourite  beverage.  This  was 
handed  round  to  the  whole  party,  who  partook 
freely  thereof,  and  while  a  number  of  them  were 
thus  sitting  down,  with  the  bowls  in  their  hands, 
Dingaan  suddenly  exclaimed,  "  Bulala  matagati,"  or 
"  Kill  the  wizards,"  and  in  an  instant  3000  or  4000 
Zoolahs  assailed  them  with  their  knobkerries ;  and 
although  many  of  the  farmers,  instantly  drawing 
their  clasp  knives  (which  they  usually  carry  by  them 
and  use  in  cutting  up  the  game  they  kill  or  the 
viands  they  eat),  made  a  determined  resistance,  and 
took  the  lives  of  several  of  their  assailants,  yet  they 
soon  fell,  one  after  the  other,  under  the  overwhelming 
pressure  of  the  thousands  by  whom  they  were  charged 
and  beaten  down  ;  and  after  a  desperate  struggle  of 
half  an  hour's  duration  their  expiring  and  mangled 
corpses  were  dragged  out  of  the  kraal  to  an  adjoin- 
ing hillock,  marked  and  infamous  as  the  "Aceldama," 
or  rather  the  "  Golgotha,"  where  the  bones  of  all 
victims  to  the  fury  of  this  despot  were  hoarded  up 
and  became  a  prey  to  the  wolves  and  vultures. 

Dingaan,  following  the  precept  of  Caesar,  who 
deemed  nothing  done  so  long  as  anything  remained 
undone,  ordered  instantly  ten  of  his  regiments  to 
march  into  this  territory  to  attack  all  the  emigrant 


in.]  ATTACKED   BY  ZOOLAHS  101 

farmers  (who,  in  perfect  security,  were  spread  all 
over  the  district,  awaiting  the  return  of  their  friends) 
and  exterminate  them,  root  and  branch.  It  certainly 
is  remarkable  that  the  doubts  which  the  majority  had 
entertained  as  to  the  good  faith  of  Dingaan  vanished 
so  soon  after  the  departure  of  Retief  and  his  party : 
the  young  men  were  enjoying  the  pleasures  of  the 
chase,  and  supplying  their  friends  with  the  game 
that  abounded,  and  the  women,  seemingly  also  un- 
suspicious, were  only  awaiting  the  return  of  their 
husbands,  sons,  and  relatives,  when  the  Zoolah  army, 
having  divided  itself  into  several  small  detachments, 
fell,  at  break  of  day,  on  the  foremost  parties  of 
emigrants  near  the  Blue  Krans  River,  and  close  to 
the  present  township  of  Weenen,  which  has  obtained 
its  name  (meaning  wailing  or  weeping)  from  the  sad 
events  of  that  day.  Men,  women,  and  children  were 
at  once  surrounded  and  barbarously  murdered,  with 
horrors  which  I  should  be  sorry  to  dwell  upon  and 
detail ;  other  detachments  of  Zoolahs  surprised  in 
other  places  similar  small  parties,  who  were  likewise 
scattered  all  over  the  Klip  River  Division,  and  who 
all  fell  under  the  Zoolah  assegai ;  but  from  one  or 
two  waggons  a  solitary  young  man  escaped,  who, 
hastening  to  the  parties  whom  he  knew  to  be  in 
the  rear,  at  length  succeeded  in  spreading  the  alarm 
among  them,  so  that  as  the  Zoolahs  advanced 
further  into  the  district  two  or  three  parties  of 
farmers  had  been  able  hastily  to  collect  a  few 
waggons  and  arrange  them  into  a  "  laager,"  or  en- 


102  SEEKING  A  NEW   HOME  [LECT. 

campment,  where  they  made  their  preparations  to 
secure  their  families  just  in  time  before  they  were 
also  attacked,  and  they  thus  succeeded  in  repelling 
the  most  daring  attacks  made  upon  them,  not  one 
of  these  "  laagers  "  having  been  forced  or  penetrated 
by  the  Zoolahs.  The  latter,  however,  advanced  still 
further  southward,  until  they  met  a  still  stronger 
party  of  emigrants  on  the  farm  now  called  "  Vecht 
Laager"  (afterwards  the  property  of  Mr.  Ogle),  on 
the  Bushman's  River,  where  they  sustained  a  very 
serious  engagement,  which  lasted  throughout  the 
whole  day,  but  where,  when  the  farmers'  ammunition 
was  nearly  exhausted,  luckily  their  last  shots  from 
a  three-pounder,  which  had  been  rigged  to  the  back 
of  one  of  their  waggons,  struck  down  some  of  the 
leading  Zoolah  chiefs,  and  forced  them  to  a  precipi- 
tate retreat 

The  moment  these  attacks  were  thus  repulsed  the 
emigrant  farmers  sallied  out  from  their  "laagers"  to 
rescue  (if  possible)  any  of  their  friends  who  had  been 
in  advance,  and  to  ascertain  the  havoc  which  had 
been  caused  among  them,  when,  upon  reaching  the 
stations  which  those  had  occupied,  a  scene  of  horror 
and  misery  was  unfolded  which  no  pen  can  describe. 
All  the  waggons  had  been  demolished,  the  iron  parts 
wrenched  from  them,  and  by  their  ruins  lay  the 
mangled  corpses  of  men,  women,  and  children, 
thrown  on  heaps  and  abandoned  to  the  beasts  of 
prey.  Amongst  these  heaps,  at  the  Blue  Krans 
River,  they  found  literally  amongst  the  dead  corpses 


in.]  A   FEARFUL   CATASTROPHE  103 

the  bodies  of  two  young  females,  about  ten  or  twelve 
years  of  age,  which  still  appeared  to  show  some 
signs  of  vitality.  The  one  was  found  pierced  with 
nineteen,  and  the  other  with  twenty-one  stabs  of 
the  assegai,  leaving  every  part  of  their  little  frames 
completely  perforated,  and  every  muscle  or  fibre 
lacerated.  The  one  was  named  Johanna  van  der 
Merwe  and  the  other  Catharina  Margaretha  Prinslo ; 
they  were  taken  up  and  tended  with  the  utmost 
care  and  (strange  to  say)  lived  for  many  years,  the 
sole  survivors  of  the  immediate  branches  of  those 
families ;  but  they  always  remained  perfect  cripples, 
although  one  of  them  (still  more  strange  to  say) 
married,  and  was  the  mother  of  one  or  two  children. 
But,  with  these  solitary  exceptions,  all  these  small 
parties  which  had  not  been  able  to  combine  and 
concentrate  themselves  in  "  laagers "  were  utterly 
destroyed,  and  in  one  week,  after  the  murder  of 
Retief  and  his  party,  600  more  victims  were  thus 
immolated  by  the  fury  and  treachery  of  Dingaan 
and  his  army. 

The  survivors  in  this  fearful  catastrophe,  after  re- 
covering from  the  panic  in  which  they  had  been 
thrown,  resolved  to  avenge  themselves  for  this 
dreadful  loss. 

The  whole  clan  of  Uys,  which,  from  some  little 
feeling  of  jealousy  of  Retief,  had  lagged  behind  on 
the  Draaksberg  (and  had  thus  escaped  this  on- 
slaught), on  hearing  of  this  destruction,  came  down 
into  the  Klip  River  with  many  other  smaller  parties 


104  SEEKING  A  NEW   HOME  [LECT. 

of  farmers  who  were  advancing  towards  this  district, 
and  their  precarious  situation  was  soon  made  known 
to  the  English  party  resident  at  the  bay,  when  the 
latter  determined  upon  a  movement  on  Dingaan 
to  support  the  cause  of  the  emigrant  farmers ;  but 
they  being  few  in  numbers  took  with  them  a  body 
of  700  Zoolahs,  400  of  whom  were  armed  with 
guns,  having  learnt  to  use  them  in  their  hunts  of 
the  elephant  and  buffalo.  This  party,  which  placed 
itself  under  the  command  of  Mr.  R.  Biggar,  crossed 
the  Tugela  at  its  mouth,  and  advanced  a  few  miles 
across  that  river,  when  they  attacked  and  destroyed 
the  town  of  Tatabasooke,  while  the  Zulu  forces  hid 
themselves  in  the  Matikoola  and  Imsimdoosa  rivers ; 
but  advancing  a  little  further  they  were  suddenly 
surrounded,  and  attacked  at  break  of  day  by  three 
divisions  of  the  Zoolah  army.  After  a  desperate 
and  murderous  engagement  almost  every  European 
or  man  of  colour  belonging  to  the  party  here  lost 
his  life ;  a  fearful  number  of  the  Zoolahs  were  also 
killed,  but  of  the  English  population  of  the  bay, 
R.  Biggar,  Blankenberg,  Cane,  Stubbs,  Richard 
Wood,  William  Wood,  Henry  Batt,  John  Campbell, 
Thomas  Campbell,  and  Thomas  Garden  successively 
fell,  and  only  one  or  two  Europeans  succeeded  in 
fighting  their  way  through  these  masses  to  convey 
to  the  small  party  who  had  remained  at  the  bay 
the  sad  result  of  this  engagement.  That  portion 
of  Dingaan's  army  followed  up  (as  usual)  their 
success,  and  advanced  as  far  as  the  bay,  but  the 


in.]  ATTEMPTED    RETALIATION  105 

few  English  who  had  survived  took  refuge  on  board 
of  the  Comet,  Captain  Hadden,  then  luckily  lying 
at  anchor  in  the  bay,  when  after  sweeping  away  all 
the  cattle  this  detachment  of  Dingaan's  army  retired 
again  into  the  Zulu  country. 

Dingaan  himself,  with  his  principal  forces,  was, 
however,  at  this  time  still  watching  the  Dutch 
emigrant  farmers,  who,  having  now  collected  about 
400  fighting  men  in  the  Klip  River  Division,  placed 
themselves  under  the  command  of  Piet  Uys  and 
of  Hendrik  Potgieter,  and  advanced  about  the  same 
time  (in  April,  1838)  towards  Umkongloof,  Dingaan's 
capital,  intent  upon  destroying  it,  and  expelling 
Dingaan  from  the  country. 

This  wily  chieftain  allowed  the  emigrant  farmers 
to  advance  to  within  a  few  miles  of  his  capital,  where 
the  approach  to  the  town  is  closed  in  between  two 
hills,  and  there  the  Zoolah  forces  first  showed  them- 
selves, but  gradually  retiring,  drew  the  emigrant 
farmers  still  further  into  this  hollow  way,  when 
another  division  of  the  Zoolah  forces  emerging  from 
behind  one  of  these  hills  and  cutting  off  all  retreat, 
a  desperate  hand-to-hand  fight  ensued,  the  farmers 
being  so  hemmed  in  that  they  could  not  fire,  then 
fall  back  rapidly  on  horseback,  and  again  load  and 
charge,  as  was  their  usual  and  efficient  mode  of 
warfare.  They  accordingly,  as  by  one  consent, 
directed  all  their  fire  on  one  mass  of  the  Zoolahs, 
where  their  fatal  aim  having  cleared  a  path  by 
bringing  down  hundreds  in  this  volley,  they  rushed 


io6  SEEKING  A   NEW   HOME  [LECT. 

through  and  thus  escaped,  but  their  chief  (and  un- 
questionably most  gallant  commander),  Piet  Uys, 
having  taken  a  somewhat  different  course  in  a 
country  but  little  known  to  them,  found  himself 
surrounded  with  a  small  party  of  about  twenty 
faithful  followers  and  his  favourite  son,  a  young 
lad  of  twelve  years  of  age,  before  a  ravine,  which 
their  horses  could  not  get  over  or  clear. 

Finding  himself  wounded,  he  called  to  his  followers 
"  to  fight  their  way  out,"  as  he  could  not  follow ;  all 
obeyed  his  command  except  his  loving  son,  who 
remained  by  his  father  until  both  fell  pierced  with 
wounds.  The  remainder  of  their  party,  and  the 
great  majority  of  the  emigrant  farmers,  having 
ultimately  succeeded  in  thus  fighting  their  way  out 
of  this  trap  which  had  so  ably  been  laid  for  them, 
effected  a  retreat  out  of  the  country  without  any 
further  great  loss  of  life,  leaving,  however,  the 
"  prestige "  of  victory  with  the  Zoolah  chieftain, 
to  whom  the  loss  of  several  hundreds  of  his  best 
warriors  was  always  considered  but  of  little  moment, 
imparting  only  an  exciting  interest  to  his  fiendish 
propensities  and  habits. 

The  emigrant  farmers  were,  however,  so  dis- 
heartened by  the  result  of  their  attack,  and  that 
of  the  English  settlers  from  the  bay  upon  Dingaan's 
forces,  that  they  gave  up  all  hope  of  resuming 
hostilities  for  the  present.  They  had  been  taught 
a  lesson  of  prudence  by  the  talent  and  daring  dis- 
played by  the  Zoolah  armies,  and  they  accordingly 


HI.]  THE   BOERS    IN    DISTRESS  107 

kept  a  watchful  eye  upon  their  northern  frontier, 
and  sent  messengers  out  in  various  directions  im- 
ploring further  accession  to  their  numbers,  both  from 
the  Cape  and  the  present  Sovereignty.  Many 
parties,  upon  hearing  of  their  distressed  state,  came 
to  join  them,  but  this  at  the  moment  only  increased 
their  misery  and  wants,  as  their  cattle  and  herds 
having  been  swept  away  (these  being  still  in  the 
hands  of  the  Zoolahs),  and  having  been  prevented 
from  cultivating  any  lands,  they  were  exposed  not 
only  to  the  greatest  want,  but  were  actually  in  a 
state  of  famine,  when  some  liberal-minded  country- 
men of  theirs  at  the  Cape,  hearing  of  their  distressed 
condition,  sent  them  supplies  of  food,  medicine,  and 
other  necessaries  of  life,  which  helped  them  through 
the  miseries  of  the  winter  of  1838,  during  which 
season  want,  disease,  and  famine  stalked  over  the 
land,  making  fearful  ravages  among  them. 

Dingaan,  ever  watchful  when  to  attack  his  foe 
with  advantage,  being  fully  informed  of  their 
wretched  condition,  made  another  attack  upon  them 
in  August,  1838,  but  on  this  occasion  the  emigrant 
farmers  (having  their  scouts  always  out  to  give  them 
timely  intimation  of  his  advance)  were  everywhere 
prepared  to  give  him  a  warm  reception,  and  at  every 
laager  the  Zoolah  forces  were  driven  back  and 
defeated  with  great  loss,  only  two  or  three  lives 
having  been  lost  among  the  emigrants  during  several 
successive  engagements.  But  although  Dingaan  was 
thus  defeated,  the  emigrant  farmers  were  still  con- 


io8  SEEKING  A  NEW   HOME  [LECT. 

tending  up  to  the  close  of  that  year  with  the  greatest 
difficulties.  Small  parties  were  pouring  in  to  join 
them,  but  bringing  little  effectual  support,  until  the 
beginning  of  December,  the  season  appearing  pro- 
pitious, and  a  number  of  young  men  having  come 
in  by  the  Sovereignty,  460  fighting  and  mounted 
men  put  themselves  under  the  command  of  Andries 
Pretorius,  who  had  also  recently  joined  the  emigrants, 
among  whom  (having  formerly  been  a  field-cornet 
in  the  Graaff-Reinet  district)  he  had  made  himself 
extremely  popular. 

They  were  powerfully  aided  by  the  brave  and 
sterling  Carel  Landman,  who  also  joined  them  with 
all  those  emigrants  who  had  already  commenced 
settling  themselves  down  near  the  bay,  and  these 
combined  forces,  profiting  from  the  experience  of 
the  past,  advanced  with  great  caution,  securing  their 
position  every  evening,  so  that  when  they  had  nearly 
reached  the  Umslatoos  River  they  were  fully  pre- 
pared, as  on  the  earliest  dawn  of  day  on  Sunday, 
the  i6th  December,  1838,  the  whole  of  Dingaan's 
forces,  about  10,000  or  12,000  strong,  attacked  their 
position  with  a  fury  far  exceeding  all  their  former 
attacks.  For  three  hours  they  continued  rushing 
upon  them,  endeavouring  to  tear  open  all  their 
defences  and  force  the  emigrant  camp,  until  Pre- 
torius, finding  the  Zoolah  forces  concentrating  all 
their  efforts  upon  one  side  of  the  camp,  and  their 
own  ammunition  nearly  failing,  he  ordered  200 
mounted  men  to  sally  forth  out  of  one  of  the  gates 


in.]  PIETER   RETIEF   AVENGED  109 

at  the  rear  of  the  line  which  the  Zoolahs  were 
attacking,  and  these  mounted  warriors,  charging  both 
flanks  and  pouring  their  deadly  volleys  upon  the 
immense  masses  which  were  gathered  together 
within  a  small  space,  at  length  beat  them  off  with 
a  fearful  loss.  The  emigrants  assert  that  nearly 
3000  Zoolahs  licked  the  dust  before  they  retreated  ; 
and  their  defeat  must  have  been  complete,  as 
Dingaan  fled  quite  panic-stricken,  set  fire  to  the 
whole  of  his  town  of  Umkongloof,  and  hid  himself 
with  the  remnant  of  his  force  for  a  considerable  time 
in  the  woods  skirting  the  Umvaloos  River. 

The  emigrants  having  had  only  three  or  four  men 
killed  and  as  many  wounded  in  this  decisive  engage- 
ment (among  the  latter  of  whom  was  Pretorius 
himself),  advanced  upon  the  town  of  Umkongloof, 
which  they  still  found  partially  burning,  and  on  the 
awful  hillock  out  of  the  town  they  beheld  on  one 
vast  pile  the  bones  and  remains  of  Retief  and  his 
one  hundred  companions  in  arms,  who,  ten  months 
before,  had  fallen  victims  to  Dingaan's  treachery,  but 
whose  deaths  they  were  then  in  fact  avenging. 
Many  of  the  straps  or  riems  by  which  they  had  been 
dragged  to  this  place  of  slaughter  were  still  found 
adhering  to  the  bones  of  the  legs  and  arms  by  which 
they  had  been  drawn  thither.  The  skulls  were 
frightfully  broken,  exhibiting  marks  of  the  knob- 
kerries  and  stones  with  which  they  had  been  frac- 
tured, and,  singular  to  relate,  the  skeleton  of  their 
ill-fated  leader,  Retief,  was  recognised  by  a  leathern 


i  io  SEEKING  A  NEW   HOME  [LECT. 

pouch  or  bandolier,  which  he  had  suspended  from  his 
shoulders,  and  in  which  he  had  deposited  the  deed 
or  writing  formally  ceding  this  territory  to  the 
emigrant  farmers,  as  written  out  by  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Owen  on  the  day  previous  to  his  massacre,  and 
signed  with  the  mark  of  Dingaan,  by  which  he 
declared  "to  resign  to  Retief  and  his  countrymen 
the  place  called  Port  Natal,  together  with  all  the 
land  annexed,  that  is  to  say,  from  the  Tugela  to  the 
Umzimvooboo  River,  and  from  the  sea  to  the  north, 
as  far  as  the  land  may  be  useful  and  in  my 
possession." 

These  are  the  very  words  of  the  original  document, 
which  was  found  still  perfectly  legible,  and  was 
delivered  over  to  me  by  the  Volksraad  in  the  year 
1843,  and  is  now  (or  ought  to  be)  among  the 
archives  of  the  Colonial  Office  here. 

After  decently  interring  the  remains  of  their  un- 
fortunate countrymen,  the  emigrant  farmers  found 
that  their  horses  and  ammunition  were  ill-calculated 
to  continue  a  harassing  warfare  upon  Dingaan  in 
his  fastnesses,  and  they  therefore  resolved  gradually 
to  fall  back,  which  they  did  with  little  loss,  taking 
with  them  some  5000  head  of  cattle,  which  they 
distributed  among  themselves  as  the  lawful  and 
hard-earned  trophies  of  this  campaign. 

On  their  return  from  this  successful  inroad  they 
were  not  a  little  surprised  to  find  that  Sir  George 
Napier  (who  had  succeeded  Sir  Benjamin  D'Urban 
in  the  government  of  the  Cape  Colony)  had  sent  a 


Hi.]  DISARMAMENT   OF   THE   BOERS  in 

small  detachment  of  Highlanders,  under  the  com- 
mand of  Major  Charters,  to  take  possession  of  the 
Bay  of  Natal.  This  measure  had  been  evidently 
taken,  and  in  fact  was  acknowledged  in  a  pro- 
clamation of  the  1 4th  November,  1838,  to  have 
emanated  from  a  desire  to  "put  an  end  to  the 
unwarranted  occupation  of  parts  of  the  territories 
belonging  to  the  natives  by  certain  emigrants  from 
the  Cape  Colony,  being  subjects  of  His  Majesty," 
and  that  proclamation  gave  the  officer  commanding 
these  forces  the  further  power  to  "  search  for,  seize, 
and  retain  in  military  possession  all  arms  and 
munitions  of  war  which,  at  the  time  of  the  seizure 
of  Port  Natal,  shall  be  found  in  the  possession  of 
any  of  the  inhabitants." 

Major  Charters  returned  immediately  to  the  Cape, 
when  the  command  of  the  detachment  devolved  on 
Captain  Jarvis,  of  the  /2nd  Regiment,  and  from  the 
vague  and  ill-defined  nature  of  his  instructions  some 
serious  difference,  if  not  conflict,  might  have  arisen 
between  him  and  the  emigrant  farmers  in  regard 
to  the  authority  and  orders  he  had  received  to  seize 
upon  their  gunpowder  and  ammunition ;  but  the 
good  sense  and  good  feeling  of  that  officer  soon 
smoothed  away  every  difficulty  between  them,  and 
he  delivered  them  up  their  gunpowder,  which  he  had 
provisionally  seized,  upon  their  engaging  not  to  use 
it  in  aggressive  hostilities  against  the  natives.  The 
necessity  of  keeping  and  maintaining  the  detach- 
ment led  to  some  regular  demand  for  supplies, 


ii2  SEEKING  A  NEW   HOME  [LECT. 

which  kept  up  a  mutual  interchange  of  wants,  and 
the  most  friendly  intercourse  was  ever  afterwards 
maintained  between  them.  In  the  meanwhile  the 
emigrant  farmers  laid  out  this  township  of  Pieter- 
maritzburg  and  what  is  now  called  the  town  of 
D'Urban.  Landdrosts  were  appointed  to  both 
townships ;  they  established  a  more  regular  system 
of  government,  and  with  the  able  assistance  of 
Mr.  Boshof  (the  present  Registrar  of  the  Court), 
who  about  that  time  arrived  in  this  district  with  his 
entire  clan,  various  laws  and  regulations  were  framed, 
which  gradually  redeemed  them  from  the  state  of 
anarchy  into  which  they  were  fast  falling.  While 
the  winter  of  1839  was  thus  taken  up  by  these  duties 
and  labours,  Dingaan,  somewhat  recovering  from  the 
effects  of  his  late  defeat,  commenced  sending  in  some 
special  messengers,  first  delivering  up  316  horses, 
which  he  at  various  times  had  captured,  and  there- 
after professing  every  disposition  to  enter  into 
amicable  arrangements  with  the  emigrants.  Their 
answer  was  plain  and  manly,  that  they  would  not 
enter  into  any  treaty  of  peace  with  him  unless  ample 
restitution  had  been  made  of  all  their  cattle  and 
sheep,  and  until  the  value  of  their  property  taken 
or  destroyed  by  him  and  the  Zoolahs  had  been  paid 
for.  This  led  to  frequent  embassies,  promises  of 
restitution,  and  fixing  places  where  some  at  least 
of  the  cattle  and  some  guns  were  promised  to  be 
delivered ;  but  the  farmers  soon  discovered  that 
these  messages  and  promises  were  mere  pretexts 


in.]  AN    UNLOOKED-FOR   EVENT  113 

to  keep  up  a  constant  and  regular  "  espionage  "  upon 
them,  as  one  of  these  pretended  messengers  or  spies 
being  caught,  admitted  that  he  had  been  sent  to 
report  to  Dingaan  whether  the  farmers  were 
gradually  returning  to  their  farms  or  whether  they 
still  kept  near  to  their  laagers,  thus  clearly  showing 
that  he  only  waited  the  opportunity  to  attempt 
another  razia  upon  them.  This  naturally  paralysed 
all  their  agricultural  pursuits  and  prevented  them  from 
spreading  themselves  about  to  carry  on  their  farm- 
ing operations,  as  they  were  kept  constantly  on  the 
alert ;  when,  in  the  inscrutable  decrees  of  Providence, 
one  of  those  events  was  brought  about  for  which 
they  were  quite  unprepared,  in  which  they  were 
not  even  the  chief  agents,  but  which  led  to  their 
undisputed  possession  of  the  whole  territory  of 
Natal. 

There  were  only  at  that  time  two  brothers  remain- 
ing alive  of  Chaka  and  Dingaan  :  the  elder  Panda  or 
Umpanda  (as  he  is  called  by  his  subjects),  and  a 
young  lad,  Clu  Clu,  who  was  afterwards  murdered 
by  Panda  (in  the  year  1843),  on  which  occasion  their 
"  Aunt "  Mawa,  with  a  great  number  of  Chaka's  and 
Dingaan's  old  followers,  fled  into  this  country ; 
and  subsequently  settled  in  this  district,  chiefly  in 
the  Umvooti  and  Inanda  locations.  Umpanda  had 
just  reached  manhood,  but  brought  up  in  the  midst 
of  debauchery  and  sensuality  he  was  only  known 
for  his  unwarlike  habits  and  became  an  object 
of  derision  to  the  warriors  and  of  contempt  to 
i 


ii4  SEEKING  A   NEW   HOME  [LECT. 

Dingaan,  who  seemed  for  a  time  to  give  him  full 
scope  for  the  indulgence  of  his  passions  as  most 
conducive  to  his  own  personal  safety,  while  Dingaan 's 
appetite  for  war  was  so  insatiable  that  notwithstand- 
ing his  signal  defeat  by  the  emigrant  farmers  in 
December  last  he  had  again  mustered  a  strong  army, 
with  which  he  attacked  Sapusa,  but  in  which  he  was 
defeated  with  fearful  loss. 

It  was,  therefore,  not  unnatural  that,  even  among 
the  Zoolahs,  a  party  was  forming  deprecating  these 
murderous  wars  and  apparently  inclined  to  support 
Panda,  with  a  view  to  bring  about  peace  with  the 
emigrants  and  the  surrounding  nations.  From  that 
moment  Dingaan  determined  to  watch  the  oppor- 
tunity of  murdering  his  brother ;  but  it  appears  that, 
a  hint  of  his  intentions  to  this  effect  having  transpired, 
Panda  at  once  fled  with  a  number  of  followers,  and 
crossing  the  Tugela  near  its  mouth,  took  possession 
of  some  lands  near  the  Umvotee,  and  sent  messengers 
requesting  the  support  and  protection  of  the  emi- 
grants. Some  suspicion  was  at  first  entertained  that 
this  was  but  a  deep-laid  plot  between  him  and 
Dingaan  to  inveigle  them  into  the  Zoolah  country ; 
but  after  repeated  conferences,  which  were  managed 
with  great  tact  and  ability  by  the  Landdrost  Roos  of 
D'Urban,  by  G.  Kemp,  Moolman,  Morewood,  Breda, 
and  several  others,  a  formal  treaty  of  alliance,  offen- 
sive and  defensive,  was  concluded  with  him,  by  the 
terms  of  which  the  emigrant  farmers  pledged  them- 
selves to  support  and  defend  Panda,  while  he,  on  the 


ill.]  ALLIANCE    WITH    PANDA  115 

other  hand,  promised  to  support  them  in  any  attack 
upon  Dingaan. 

The  beginning  of  the  year  1840  being  considered 
the  best  season  for  commencing  offensive  operations, 
the  emigrant  farmers  again  mustered  a  force  of  400 
mounted  warriors,  who,  under  the  chief  command  of 
Andries  Pretorius,  joined  Panda's  army,  about  4000 
strong,  and  this  combined  force,  in  January,  again 
entered  the  Zoolah  country  by  the  Sunday's  River 
and  Biggar's  Mountain ;  but  with  proper  caution  the 
emigrants  kept  themselves  at  some  distance  from 
Panda's  army,  which,  under  the  able  guidance  of 
Nonklass  (who  continued  for  many  years  to  be 
Panda's  chief  counsellor  and  captain),  seemed  quite 
intent  upon  coming  into  action. 

While  this  commando  was  preparing  and  mustering 
their  forces  in  this  town  of  Pietermaritzburg,  one  of 
Dingaan's  principal  messengers,  Tamboosa,  arrived  at 
Pietermaritzburg  with  one  of  those  specious  messages 
and  offers  of  peace.  He  was,  however,  seized,  with 
his  attendant  Combizana,  and,  upon  being  rigidly 
questioned,  frankly  admitted  that  he  had  also  been 
sent  with  a  view  of  reporting  to  Dingaan  the  state 
of  the  combined  army  of  emigrants  and  Zoolahs 
under  Panda.  The  latter,  evidently  embittered 
against  this  person  (one  of  Dingaan's  principal 
counsellors),  charged  him  with  having  been  the 
chief  cause  of  the  murder  of  Retief  and  his  party ; 
that  he  had  plotted  and  advised  his  (Panda's)  death ; 
and,  in  short,  brought  such  a  series  of  charges 


ii6  SEEKING  A   NEW   HOME  [LECT. 

against  him  that  (contrary  to  every  usage  of  civilised 
life)  he  was  taken  along  with  the  army  as  a  prisoner, 
until  they  reached  the  banks  of  the  Buffalo  or 
Umzimjaatee  River,  where  a  court-martial  was 
formed,  which,  under  the  excited  feelings  of  the 
occasion,  soon  passed  a  sentence  of  death  upon 
the  unfortunate  prisoners,  and  which  was  carried 
into  execution  within  a  few  hours  after ;  Tamboosa 
not  only  nobly  upbraiding  his  executioners  with 
the  violation  of  all  usage  towards  messengers,  even 
amongst  savages,  but,  expressing  his  perfect  readi- 
ness to  die,  he  only  implored  (but  in  vain)  mercy 
on  behalf  of  his  young  attendant,  who  was  only  a 
camp  follower,  and  had  thus  been  but  doing  his  duty 
in  following  his  master. 

This  may  be  said  to  have  been  the  only  blot  which 
seriously  reflected  upon  the  conduct  of  the  emigrant 
farmers  in  their  several  engagements  with  the  Zoolahs, 
for  they  otherwise  constantly  endeavoured  to  spare  the 
women  and  children  from  massacre,  and  uniformly 
conducted  their  wars  with  as  much  discretion  and 
prudence  as  bravery. 

A  few  days  after  this  sad  execution  the  Zoolah 
army  under  Panda  encountered  that  commanded  by 
Dingaan,  whereupon  a  desperate  engagement  ensued, 
in  the  course  of  which  one  or  two  of  Dingaan's 
regiments  went  over  in  a  body  to  Panda.  This 
decided  the  fate  of  the  day :  two  of  Dingaan's 
regiments  who  fought  bravely  for  him  being  totally 
destroyed,  the  battle  ended  in  his  total  defeat  and 


HI.]          DECLARATION    OF   SOVEREIGNTY  117 

flight.  The  emigrant  farmers,  not  having  been  en- 
gaged in  this  action,  followed  up  this  success  (as 
soon  as  they  heard  of  it)  with  great  vigour ;  they 
drove  Dingaan  over  the  Black  Umvoloos,  and  from 
thence  still  further  to  the  banks  of  the  Pongola, 
where,  deserted  by  almost  all  his  followers,  he  en- 
deavoured with  about  100  followers  to  find  shelter 
amongst  a  small  tribe  living  near  Delagoa  Bay, 
named  the  Amasuree,  but  who,  it  is  supposed  (for 
I  believe  there  is  no  actually  authentic  account  of 
his  death),  murdered  him  to  ensure  their  own  safety 
from  his  constant  and  fearful  forays  upon  them  and 
the  adjacent  tribes. 

As,  however,  no  doubt  as  to  his  death  and  the 
dispersion  of  all  his  army  existed,  the  emigrant 
farmers  assembled  in  great  state  on  the  banks  of 
the  Umvoloos  on  the  I4th  February,  1840,  and 
there,  under  the  discharge  of  their  guns,  Andries 
Pretorius  proclaimed  Umpanda  the  sole  and  ac- 
knowledged king  of  the  Zulus ;  and  by  a  pro- 
clamation issued  by  him,  and  attested  by  the  other 
commandants,  they  declared  their  sovereignty  to 
extend  from  the  Umvoloos  Umfana,  or  the  Black 
Umvoloos,  and  the  St.  Lucia  Bay,  to  the  Umzim- 
vooboo,  or  St.  John's  River ;  and  in  fact,  by  their 
proceedings  of  that  day,  assumed  a  certain  authority, 
or  sovereignty,  over  Umpanda  himself,  from  whom 
they  received,  as  their  indemnity,  36,000  head  of 
cattle,  14,000  of  which  were  delivered  to  those 
farmers  who,  residing  beyond  the  Draaksberg,  had 


ii8  SEEKING  A  NEW   HOME  [LECT. 

only  come  in  as  allies  to  their  friends,  and  the 
remaining  22,000  (or  rather  the  sad  remains  of  them, 
for  very  many  were  lost  or  embezzled  on  the  way) 
were  brought  to  the  foot  of  the  Zwart  Kop,  near 
Pietermaritzberg,  where,  at  a  spot  still  named  the  Deel 
Kraal,*  they  were  distributed  among  such  farmers 
as  belonged  to  this  district,  and  had  claims  for 
losses  sustained  in  the  previous  wars  and  engage- 
ments. 

A  few  days  before  the  emigrant  farmers  started  on 
their  last  and  crowning  victory  over  Dingaan  and 
his  forces,  Sir  George  Napier,  having  been  ordered  to 
send  the  72nd  Regiment  home,  and  finding  that  the 
Secretary  of  State  for  the  Colonies  still  continued 
little  inclined  to  support  his  policy  of  occupying  this 
district,  sent  a  vessel  to  the  bay  with  orders  to 
Capt.  Jarvis  to  embark  with  his  whole  detachment ; 
on  which  occasion  he  addressed  a  letter  to  the 
Landdrost  Roos,  at  D'Urban,  which,  after  referring 
to  some  complaints  of  natives  as  to  encroachments 
on  their  gardens,  contained  the  following  farewell 
address  and  peroration  : — 

"  It  now  only  remains  for  me,  on  taking  my 
departure,  to  wish  you  one  and  all  as  a  community 
every  happiness,  sincerely  hoping  that,  aware  of 
your  strength,  peace  may  be  the  object  of  your 
councils ;  justice,  prudence,  and  moderation  be  the 
law  of  your  actions;  that  your  proceedings  may 

*  Anglice,  camp  for  distributing  or  dividing. 


Hi.]  A   SYMPATHETIC   ADDRESS  119 

be  actuated  by  motives  worthy  of  you  as  men 
and  Christians,  that  hereafter  your  arrival  may  be 
hailed  as  a  benefit;  having  enlightened  ignorance 
dispelled  superstition,  and  caused  crime,  bloodshed, 
and  oppression  to  cease,  and  that  you  may  culti- 
vate these  beautiful  regions  in  quiet  and  prosperity, 
ever  regardful  of  the  rights  of  the  inhabitants  whose 
country  you  have  adopted,  and  whose  home  you 
have  made  your  own  ! " 

From  these  expressions,  enunciated  by  the  officer 
commanding  the  forces  on  the  eve  of  his  departure, 
and  from  the  general  tenor  of  the  intelligence 
received  by  them  at  the  time  from  the  Cape,  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  the  emigrant  farmers  became 
then  fully  impressed  that  Her  Majesty's  Government 
had  determined,  by  no  consideration,  to  swerve  from 
that  line  of  policy  which  had  already  declared  that 
nothing  would  induce  Her  Majesty  to  assert  a 
sovereignty  over  these  territories.  They  therefore 
conceived  that  by  this  act  of  abandonment  of  this 
territory  by  Her  Majesty's  forces,  and  by  their 
recent  conquest  and  installation  of  Panda,  as  a  chief 
set  up  by  themselves,  they  had  become  both  de 
facto  and  de  jure  the  undisputed  rulers  of  the 
country.  They  saw  themselves  respected  and 
dreaded  by  all  the  neighbouring  tribes,  every  farmer 
now  had  the  opportunity  of  sitting  himself  down 
"under  his  own  vine,  and  under  his  own  fig  tree," 
none  making  him  afraid ;  and  there  is  further  no 
doubt  that  if  they  (as  a  body)  had  possessed  suffi- 


120  SEEKING  A  NEW   HOME  [LECT. 

cient  intelligence  to  feel  the  exact  position  in  which 
they  were  placed,  Her  Majesty's  Government  would 
thereupon  have  bestowed  upon  them  all  the  ad- 
vantages of  self-government  consistent  with  a  mere 
acknowledgment  of  their  allegiance  to  Her  Majesty 
and  her  heirs. 

We  may,  therefore,  here  conclude  this  lecture 
(which  has  brought  them  down  to  a  quiet  and 
undisturbed  possession  of  this  territory)  by  apply- 
ing to  them  the  lines  of  the  Mantuan  bard,  where 
in  his  Second  Georgia  he  says  of  the  peasantry  of 
his  country — 

"  O  Fortunatos  nimium  sua  si  bona  norint, 
Agricolas  ! "  etc.,  etc. 

As  the  whole  of  this  passage  is  so  peculiarly  apposite 
to  the  position  in  which  these  farmers  found  them- 
selves placed  at  that  time,  I  shall  conclude  with 
applying  to  them  the  following  lines,  as  translated 
by  Ring : — 

"  Blest  is  the  life  these  rural  swains  pursue  ; 
Blest !  ah,  too  blest !  if  all  their  bliss  they  knew. 
To  whom,  remote  from  dangers  and  alarms, 
And  from  the  clashing  of  discordant  arms, 
When  once  their  calm  and  easy  toil  is  o'er, 
The  bounteous  earth  pours  forth  her  foodful  store. 
What  though  no  domes  their  portals  open  wide, 
To  vomit  forth  a  sycophantic  tide  ? 
What  though  no  stately  columns  they  behold  ? 
Nor  sculptured  brass,  nor  garments  wrought  with  gold  ? 
What  though  their  fleece  no  Tyrian  purple  soil, 
Nor  Cassian  odours  paint  their  liquid  oil  ? 


III.]  THE   GOAL  ATTAINED  121 

Yet  life,  to  vain  delusive  joys  unknown, 
And  rest  and  safety,  these  are  all  their  own. 
And  various  wealth,  a  farm,  a  peaceful  cot, 
A  crystal  fountain  and  a  cooling  grot ; 
The  low  of  oxen  in  the  grassy  glades, 
And  soft  repose  beneath  embowering  shades : 
Nor  open  lawns  are  wanting  for  the  chase 
Nor  woods  to  shelter  all  the  savage  race, 
Nor  hardy  youth  to  cultivate  the  soil, 
Content  with  little,  and  inured  to  toil, 
Nor  sacred  altars  of  the  Powers  above, 
Nor  parents  honoured  by  the  sons  they  love." 

In  these  lectures  I  have  now  imparted  to  you, 
ladies  and  gentlemen,  a  plain  unvarnished  statement 
of  the  chief  causes  which  led  to  the  estrangement 
of  a  large  portion  of  our  fellow-colonists  from  the 
Government,  and  to  their  abandonment  of  the  land 
of  their  forefathers,  to  seek  a  home  in  the  wilds  of 
South  Africa,  and  in  this  district. 

In  this  statement  my  aim  has  been  "nought  to 
extenuate,  nor  to  set  down  aught  in  malice,"  but 
to  show  that  these  emigrants  (as  a  body)  form  a 
most  respectable,  powerful,  and  numerous  body 
of  men,  who,  neither  allured  by  the  thirst  after 
gold,  nor  the  desire  to  exterminate  savage  tribes, 
only  sought  for  a  country  which  they  endeavoured 
lawfully  to  acquire,  where  they  might  set  them- 
selves down  in  peace,  secure  as  to  their  lives  and 
properties. 

This  object  they  had  fully  gained,  and  if  their 
true  position  had  be»n  well  understood  by  them- 


122  SEEKING  A  NEW   HOME         [LECT.  in. 

selves,  and  appreciated  by  the  Government,  nothing 
ought  to  have  occurred  subsequently  to  disturb  the 
friendly  harmony  between  them  and  a  government 
to  whom  the  golden  rule  becomes  daily  more  self- 
evident — 

"Salus  Populi  Suprema  Lex!" 


LECTURE    IV. 

THE   BOERS   IN   NATAL 

I  WAS  induced  in  the  year  1852  to  deliver  a 
series  of  lectures  containing  a  succinct,  but  (in 
accordance  with  my  pledge)  a  truthful  and  impartial 
account  of  the  causes  which  led  a  number  of  Boers 
to  leave  the  land  of  their  birth  and  to  wander 
through  the  wild  wastes  of  South-Eastern  Africa, 
until  they  acquired  a  peaceful  and  independent 
settlement  in  this  promising  country. 

My  principal  motive  for  consenting  to  deliver  those 
lectures  was  (as  announced  by  me  at  the  time)  to 
dispel  the  clouds  which  ignorance  and  misrepresenta- 
tion were  then  but  too  rapidly  accumulating  around 
the  British  immigrants,  who  had  been  previously 
attracted  hither  by  the  delusive  scheme  of  Mr.  Byrne, 
and  which  were  even  of  a  nature  to  affect  the  friendly 
relations  which  should  ever  exist,  for  the  good  of  all, 
between  those  races  who  have  now  virtually  made 
this  country  their  home. 

It  is  remarkable,  that  in  the  very  first  Blue 
Book  on  Natal,  published  by  order  of  the  House  of 

123 


124  THE  BOERS   IN   NATAL  [LECT. 

Commons  (a  publication  to  which  we  generally  refer 
for  correct  official  information),  the  name  of  my 
respected  and  worthy  brother,  Colonel  (now  Sir 
Josias)  Cloete,  appears  in  several  places,  either 
through  a  misprint  or  misapprehension  arising  in 
the  Colonial  Office  itself,  as  that  of  the  Commissioner 
appointed  to  adjust  the  affairs  of  this  district — a 
circumstance  which  has  (I  know)  misled  several 
persons  into  the  belief  that  he  at  one  time  held  that 
office  in  conjunction  with  the  post  of  commander 
of  Her  Majesty's  forces,  sent  to  relieve  a  detachment 
which  had  arrived  here  under  the  command  of 
Captain  Smith.* 

The  great  and  final  triumph  of  the  emigrant 
farmers  over  the  power  of  Dingaan,  his  death,  and 
the  subsequent  installation  of  Panda  as  the  para- 
mount chief  of  the  Zoolah  nation,  under  their 
auspices,  appeared  to  me  to  constitute  an  appropriate 
conclusion  to  that  course  of  lectures,  as  I  was  not 
unmindful  of  the  warning  ("  not  to  follow  contem- 

*  At  the  time  of  delivering  this  lecture,  I  had  not  seen  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Holden's  recently  published  work  on  "  Natal,"  in  which  (at 
page  191)  I  find  that  the  author  has  fallen  precisely  into  this  error,  and 
has  adopted  the  "misprint"  of  the  Blue  Book  published  in  1846,  by 
gravely  announcing  that  "  Colonel  Cloete "  had  been  appointed  a 
"Special  Commissioner"  by  Her  Majesty,  in  the  year  1843,  to  adjust 
the  claims  to  land  at  Natal  (vide  pages  191  and  195),  although  the 
author  seems  to  have  had  before  him  the  "  reprint "  of  official  papers 
relating  to  Natal,  edited  by  Mr.  J.  C.  Chase,  in  which  he  would  have 
found  (in  vol.  2,  page  281)  the  official  announcement  of  the  "  Hon'ble 
Henry  Cloete,  LL.D.,"  to  that  office,  who  is  there  described  to  be  "an 
advocate  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  a  member  of  the  Legislative 
Council  of  the  Colony  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope." 


iv.]         HISTORICAL  MISREPRESENTATION          125 

poraneous  history  too  closely  at  her  heels")  left  to 
future  historians  by  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  who,  in  his 
quaint  preface  to  his  History  of  the  World,  accounts 
for  his  having  confined  himself  so  entirely  to  ancient 
history,  in  the  following  remarks — 

"  I  know  it  will  be  said  by  many  that  I  might  have  been 
more  pleasing  to  the  reader  if  I  had  written  the  story  of 
mine  own  time;  having  been  permitted  to  draw  the  water 
as  near  the  well-head  as  another.  To  this  I  answer,  that 
whosoever,  in  writing  a  modern  history,  shall  follow  truth 
too  near  the  heels,  it  may  haply  strike  out  his  teeth :  there 
is  no  mistress  or  guide  that  hath  led  her  followers  and 
servants  into  greater  miseries." 

Following  this  sage  advice,  I  allowed  for  a  time 
"  truth "  to  find  its  own  way,  and  gradually  to  clear 
up  the  mists  hanging  over  the  modern  history  of  this 
district;  but  I  have  since  become  more  and  more 
sensible  of  the  painful  fact  that  every  succeeding 
day,  and  every  ephemeral  publication  that  has 
emanated  from  the  press,  have  only  added  to  the 
misrepresentations  which  ignorance  or  party  spirit 
had  originated.  It  therefore  became  a  duty  in- 
cumbent on  those  who  were  fully  conversant  with 
the  correct  details  of  affairs  at  the  time,  to  inform 
the  inhabitants  of  this  district  (upon  good  authority) 
of  the  manner  in  which  those  events  had  been 
gradually  developed,  terminating  in  a  peaceable  and 
unqualified  submission  to  Her  Majesty's  authority, 
and  thus  introducing  that  settled  government  under 


126  THE   BOERS   IN    NATAL  [LECT. 

the  protection  of  which  we  are  at  present  assembled 
together. 

Although  these  results  were  chiefly  brought  about 
by  my  own  instrumentality,  I  trust  I  may  now  be 
allowed  to  refer  to  them  without  being  justly  charge- 
able with  vanity  or  egotism,  since  such  reference 
will  be  made  merely  for  the  purpose  of  vouching  for 
the  correctness  of  facts  and  occurrences  of  which 
I  may  truly  say  with  the  hero  of  the  ^Eneid — 

"  Quaeque  ipse  miserrima  vidi, 
Et  quorum  pars  magna  fui." 

I  stated  in  the  conclusion  of  my  third  and  last 
lecture  of  the  former  course  that  the  I4th  day  of 
February,  1840,  may  be  set  down  as  the  grand  epoch 
whence  the  undisputed  supremacy  of  the  emigrant 
farmers  over  this  country  is  to  be  dated.  On  that 
day,  after  the  total  defeat  of  Dingaan,  and  his  flight 
to  the  Amazurees'  country  (where  he  was  subse- 
quently assassinated),  Andries  Pretorius,  the  com- 
mandant-general of  the  emigrant  forces  on  the  banks 
of  the  Umvolosi,  formally  installed  Panda  as  the 
paramount  king  of  the  adjacent  tribes,  and  (with 
the  concurrence  of  some  of  the  members  of  the 
Volksraad  or  Council  of  the  People,  who  had  accom- 
panied him)  issued  the  following  proclamation  : — 

"  I,  Andries  Wilhelmus  Pretorius,  chief  commandant  of 
all  the  burghers  of  the  Right  Worshipful  Volksraad 
of  the  South  African  Society  of  Port  Natal,  and 
commander-in-chief  of  the  army  placed  under  my 
command,  etc.,  etc. 


IV.]      BOER  PROCLAMATION   OF  SUPREMACY      127 

"Whereas  the  Volksraad  of  the  South  African  Society, 
on  account  of  the  unprovoked  war  which  the  Zoolah  king 
or  Zoolah  nation  has  commenced  against  the  South  African 
Society,  was  compelled  to  incur  an  expense  of  Rds.  122,600 
for  horse  and  waggon-hire,  and  other  expenses  of  war ;  and 
whereas  the  Zoolah  king,  according  to  all  appearance  and 
information,  has  deserted  his  territory  and  crossed  the 
Pongola,  etc.,  I  do  hereby  proclaim  and  make  known,  that 
in  the  name  of  the  said  Volksraad  of  the  South  African 
Society,  I  seize  all  the  land  from  the  Tugala  to  the 
Umvaloos  Umjana  (the  Black  Umvaloos) ;  and  that  our 
boundary  shall  in  future  be  from  the  sea  along  the  Black 
Umvaloos,  where  it  runs  through  the  Double  Mountains, 
near  to  where  it  originates,  and  so  along  the  Randberg  (the 
Ridges),  in  the  same  direction  to  the  Draaksberg  (or 
Quathlamba)  Mountains,  including  the  St.  Lucia  Bay,  as 
also  all  sea  coasts  and  harbours  which  have  already  been 
discovered,  or  may  hereafter  be  discovered,  between  the 
Umzimvubu  and  the  Black  Umvaloos  mouths." 


This  proclamation  was  openly  read,  and  its  con- 
tents explained  to  Panda,  who,  with  his  chief  coun- 
sellors, was  present  on  the  occasion  ;  and  under  a 
discharge  of  twenty-one  guns  from  their  little  field- 
piece  (for  they  had  but  one),  Panda  was  thus  installed 
as  chief  of  the  Zoolah  and  other  adjacent  tribes,  but 
holding  that  authority  directly  from  the  Emigrant 
Society,  who  thus  became  in  fact  his  dominant  and 
protecting  power.  Twenty  thousand  head  of  cattle 
were  brought  into  this  district  as  the  spoils  of  that 
campaign,  and  the  remnant  of  them  (for  a  great 
proportion  was  purloined  on  the  journey  by  the 


128  THE    BOERS    IN    NATAL  [LECT. 

dishonesty  or  negligence  of  the  field -cornets  and 
guard  to  whom  they  had  been  entrusted),  was 
driven  to  an  extensive  grassy  plateau,  situate  be- 
tween the  Zwartkop  and  the  Uitspanplaats,  Ketel- 
fontein,  on  the  summit  of  the  Town-hill,  still  called 
from  that  circumstance  the  "  Deelkraal "  (or  coral 
of  distributing  or  dividing),  where  upwards  of  ten 
thousand  were  given  out  to  the  men  engaged  in 
the  late  expedition ;  and  the  inhabitants  soon 
spread  themselves  about  and  seriously  entered  upon 
their  rural  and  agricultural  pursuits,  extending  them- 
selves from  the  banks  of  the  Tugela  to  the  Um- 
zimkulu. 

By  a  singular  coincidence,  the  then  Governor  of 
the  Cape  Colony  (Sir  George  Napier)  had  just  then 
been  ordered  to  send  home  the  /2nd  Regiment,  of 
which  a  detachment  had  occupied  the  harbour  of 
Port  Natal ;  and  that  detachment  having  been  with- 
drawn, an  opinion  generally  prevailed  that  the  home 
Government  had  deliberately  relinquished  all  idea 
of  occupying  this  territory ;  so  that  the  few  English 
inhabitants  then  living  at  the  port  had  no  alternative 
but  to  acknowledge  the  supremacy  of  a  society  of 
farmers,  who  were  soon  to  solve  the  problem  as  to 
their  fitness  for  self-government. 

About  the  same  time  my  highly  esteemed  friend, 
Mr.  Jacobus  Nicolaas  Boshof  (subsequently  called 
to  the  honourable  but  arduous  post  of  President 
of  the  Orange  Free  State),  arrived  here  with  his 
numerous  and  influential  clan,  having  determined 


IV.]    THEIR  STRONG  REPUBLICAN   FEELING     129 

to  give  up  the  subordinate  office  he  held  at  Graaff- 
Reinet,  no  longer  there 

"  To  bear  the  oppressor's  wrong,  the  proud  man's  contumely, 
The  insolence  of  office,  and  the  spurns 
That  patient  merit  of  the  unworthy  takes." 

His  merits  as  a  zealous,  able,  and  laborious  officer 
were,  however,  immediately  recognised  in  this  district. 
He  was  at  once  made  Landdrost  of  this  division,  then 
comprehending  nearly  the  whole  district ;  to  him  the 
inhabitants  were  indebted  for  the  appointment  of 
a  regular  Land  Board,  to  inspect  the  farms  and 
prepare  titles  to  lands ;  as  well  as  for  various  ex- 
cellent local  regulations,  both  at  this  place  and  at 
the  port,  and  D'Urban.  To  him  was  also  entrusted 
the  preparation  of  some  fundamental  regulations  in 
reference  to  the  chief  executive  and  legislative 
government  of  the  country ;  but  on  that  point 
(I  have  reason  to  believe)  his  own  sensible  and 
practical  views  were  overruled  or  made  to  succumb 
to  the  stern  republican  feeling  of  the  majority  of 
the  inhabitants,  who  appear  to  have  been  so  inflated 
with  their  own  ideas  as  to  their  power  of  governing 
the  country  collectively,  that  they  (almost  unani- 
mously) resisted  every  proposition  of  becoming 
subject  to  any  permanent  chief  or  supreme  head ; 
but  determined  at  least  to  try  the  experiment,  which, 
I  fear,  the  Transvaal  Republic  is  now  again  re- 
peating, and  which  will  more  than  probably,  in  their 
case,  also  lead  to  the  same  results  as  before. 
K 


130  THE  BOERS  IN  NATAL  [LECT. 

This  leads  me  to  give  my  hearers  a  succinct 
account  of  the  kind  of  government  which  they  intro- 
duced. Once  every  year  the  field-cornet  of  every 
division  into  which  the  country  had  been  portioned 
out,  sent  in  to  the  Landdrost  here  a  list  of  the 
persons  whom  the  inhabitants  of  that  field-cornetcy 
or  ward  desired  to  become  their  representatives  for 
the  ensuing  year.  The  district  was  divided  into 
twelve  such  wards,  from  each  of  which  the  names 
of  two  persons  were  thus  sent  in,  forming  a  council 
of  twenty-four  members,  in  which  were  vested  all  the 
combined  supreme,  executive,  legislative,  and  judicial 
powers.  This  elective  Council  or  "Volksraad"  was 
required  to  assemble  here  (at  Pietermaritzburg)  every 
three  months.  At  each  meeting  a  chairman  was 
chosen  from  among  the  members  present  to  regulate 
the  order  of  their  proceedings  ;  but  he  had  not  in 
any  other  respect  the  slightest  addition  of  power  or 
authority  over  the  rest.  All  the  members  performed 
their  duties  gratuitously;  but  for  the  current  and 
indispensable  business  of  government  Landdrosts 
were  appointed  for  this  place,  D' Urban  and  Weenen, 
each  of  whom  exercised  a  certain  limited  judicial 
authority.  At  Pietermaritzburg  also  two  or  three 
members  of  the  Council,  who  lived  in  or  near  the 
town,  were  formed  into  a  Committee  of  the  Council 
(called  the  Commissie  Raad),  and  had  power  to 
decide  upon  and  carry  out  any  executive  or  adminis- 
trative duties  requiring  immediate  despatch ;  but  they 
were  bound  at  the  next  general  meeting  of  the 


iv.]         PREPARING  A  STATE   OF  ANARCHY        131 

Council  to  report  their  proceedings  and  submit  them 
for  the  sanction  or  disapproval  of  the  body  by  which 
they  were  appointed. 

Independently  of  the  mode  now  described  of 
governing  "this"  district,  there  existed  also  an  ill- 
defined  federal  bond  of  union  with  the  districts 
of  Windburg  and  of  the  Modder  and  Caledon  rivers 
lying  beyond  the  Draaksberg,  and  now  forming  the 
Orange  Free  State,  by  virtue  of  which  those  districts, 
upon  sending  delegates  to  this  place,  could  join  in, 
and  become  subject  to  all  laws  and  regulations  made 
in  their  "  combined  "  councils ;  but  otherwise  those 
districts  were  not  to  be  bound  by  any  decisions 
of  the  Volksraad  here.  The  existence  and  character 
of  this  connection  will  have  to  be  borne  in  mind 
when  we  come  to  the  later  portions  of  the  history 
which  will  be  given  in  these  lectures. 

From  this  statement,  I  believe  every  one  of  my 
hearers  possessing  any  knowledge  of  history  or  any 
practical  experience  in  the  affairs  of  the  world  will 
at  once  perceive  that  the  inhabitants  were  preparing 
for  themselves  a  state  of  anarchy,  from  which  the 
most  deplorable  results  to  themselves  must  inevitably 
arise.  Without  a  head  to  direct  or  a  power  to 
control,  they  were  left  entirely  to  those  innate 
feelings  and  notions  of  right  and  wrong  that  might 
be  found  in  such  a  community.  The  Landdrost,  the 
only  paid  functionary  (whose  salary  was  but  the  in- 
significant sum  of  £100  per  annum)  was  so  constantly 
thwarted  by  the  ignorant  and  busy  intermeddling 


1 32  THE   BOERS   IN   NATAL  [LECT. 

of  the  Committee  Council  (Commissie  Raad)  that 
Mr.  Boshof  soon  resigned  the  office,  and  no  entreaties 
or  prayers  could  induce  him  to  resume  it.  The 
Commissie  Raad,  on  making  a  report  of  their  pro- 
ceedings to  the  full  Council,  were  uniformly  assailed 
by  or  exposed  to  the  most  violent  attacks  from  the 
so-called  "  Publiek "  (the  public),  the  name  assumed 
by  those  who  were  opposed  to  the  measures  that  had 
been  adopted  ;  and  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten  their 
acts,  after  the  most  outrageous  personal  attacks  (so 
that  on  some  occasions  the  members,  as  it  is  now 
known,  came  with  arms  secreted  in  their  bosoms  to 
guard  against  assaults),  were  again  repudiated  by  a 
set  of  men  who,  going  back  to  their  homesteads  the 
next  day,  were  ill  prepared  to  resist  the  reproaches 
and  taunts  of  the  selfish  and  the  interested.  It  is 
a  lamentable  fact  that  upon  my  arrival  here  as  Com- 
missioner in  1843,  I  was  informed  by  the  then 
Landdrost  that  a  judgment  which  he  had  passed 
several  months  before  against  a  respectable  inhabi- 
tant living  only  a  few  miles  from  this  town  (ordering 
him  to  return  some  head  of  cattle  which  he  had 
illegally  withheld  from  a  Hottentot)  was  still  lying  in 
his  office  a  dead  letter ;  as  this  inhabitant  had  openly 
declared  he  would  shoot  the  first  messenger  or  other 
functionary  who  should  come  on  his  premises,  and 
the  Landdrost  therefore  could  find  no  one  inclined  to 
run  the  risk  of  executing  his  warrant.  Several  of  the 
most  respectable  and  worthy  inhabitants  also  assured 
me  that  it  was  impossible  for  them  to  live  any  longer 


iv.]  PETITION  TO  THE   GOVERNOR  133 

in  such  a  state  of  anarchy  as  that  into  which  the 
country  was  fast  receding. 

However,  these  sad  results  were  not  anticipated 
by  the  majority  of  the  inhabitants  in  the  year  1840, 
who  were  now  formed  into  an  independent  people, 
but  still  felt  that  the  recognition  of  that  inde- 
pendence by  Her  Majesty's  Government  was  all 
that  was  wanting  to  give  stability  to  their  govern- 
ment and  institutions.  They  accordingly  addressed 
His  Excellency  Sir  George  Napier  on  the  4th 
September,  1840,  in  the  following  terms  : — 

"  YOUR  EXCELLENCY, — By  the  blessing  of  God  we  have 
perfectly  succeeded  in  establishing  with  our  numerously 
surrounding  savage  enemies  an  advantageous,  but,  for  the 
so  long  oppressed  people,  a  lasting  peace,  which  presents 
us  with  the  cheering  prospect  of  permanent  prosperity,  etc. 

"This  prospect  is,  however,  somewhat  darkened  by 
the  conviction  that  between  us  and  our  always  beloved 
mother  country  there  does  not  exist  that  friendly  sympathy 
in  our  welfare  which  we  would  fain  wish  to  see  strongly 
and  lastingly  established. 

"This  general  wish  has  been  frequently  under  the 
consideration  of  the  Volksraad,  who  have  at  their  last 
meeting  passed  the  following  resolution,  viz. : — 

" '  To  submit  respectfully  to  your  Excellency,  as  the 
honoured  representative  of  Her  Majesty  the  Queen  of 
England,  that  it  may  graciously  please  Her  Majesty  to 
acknowledge  and  declare  us  a  free  and  independent 
people  (a  right  so  dearly  purchased  with  our  blood),  and 
to  concede  to  us  all  those  privileges  which  constitute 
the  boast  and  greatness  of  the  nation  which  has  the 
happiness  to  live  under  her  noble  government.' 


134  THE  BOERS   IN   NATAL  [LECT. 

"And  to  attain  that  object  the  Council  have  resolved 
(should  your  Excellency  desire  it)  that  two  commissioners 
shall  be  sent  to  the  colony  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope 
as  our  representatives,  at  such  time  and  to  such  place 
as  your  Excellency  shall  appoint." 

This  letter  ended  by  expressing  their  readiness 
to  enter  into  a  negotiation  "  in  writing,"  if  His 
Excellency  should  prefer  such  a  course. 

To  this  letter  His  Excellency,  who  was  then  at 
Graham's  Town,  returned  a  courteous  reply,  civilly 
declining  the  reception  of  the  proposed  com- 
missioners, and  expressing  at  once  his  opinion 
that  he  himself  could  enter  into  no  arrangements 
which  might  in  any  respect  be  incompatible  with 
the  honour  of  Her  Majesty,  but  also  stating  "that 
much  time  might  be  gained  by  their  furnishing 
His  Excellency  with  an  explicit  statement  of  the 
terms  on  which  they  were  disposed  to  treat,  and 
which  His  Excellency  hoped  might  yet  lead  to  an 
amicable  settlement  of  the  future  relations  between 
the  colony  and  Natal." 

Although  events  of  a  more  stirring  nature  sub- 
sequently intervened,  to  which  it  will  be  necessary 
to  direct  your  attention,  I  may  add  here  that  this 
letter  of  His  Excellency's  led  to  another  com- 
munication from  the  Volksraad,  dated  the  I4th 
January,  1841,  in  which  they  embodied,  in  thirteen 
articles,  the  terms  of  their  proposed  alliance  with 
Her  Majesty  and  her  heirs,  the  chief  of  which 
were : — 


iv.]  TERMS   OF  PROPOSED  ALLIANCE  135 

"  i  st.  That  Her  Majesty  would  be  pleased  to  acknow- 
ledge their  settlement  as  a  free  and  independent  state, 
under  the  name  of  'The  Republic  of  Port  Natal  and 
adjacent  countries ' ;  the  boundaries  whereof  could  be 
hereafter  defined. 

"and.  That  Her  Majesty's  Government  declare  itself 
willing  to  treat  with  the  Republic,  in  the  relation  of  an 
ally. 

"  3rd.  That  the  said  Republic  reciprocally  declares  itself 
to  stand  in  the  closest  alliance  with  the  British  Govern- 
ment. 

"4th.  That  Her  Majesty's  Government  shall  be  at 
liberty,  in  case  of  any  hostile  undertaking  against  the 
Republic  by  sea,  by  any  other  power  whatsoever,  either 
to  interpose  itself  in  a  friendly  manner  or  to  repel  the 
same  by  force. 

"  5th.  That  in  case  of  war  between  the  British  Govern- 
ment and  any  other  power  this  Republic  shall  be  viewed 
as  neutral,  and  all  private  commercial  vessels  lying  at 
anchor  in  the  ports  of  the  Republic  shall  be  left  un- 
molested. 

"6th.  That  the  British  Government  shall  have  the 
right  to  place  here  an  ambassador  or  representative 
agent." 

The  remaining  clauses  were  intended  for  securing 
a  mutual  free  trade  on  the  footing  of  the  most 
favoured  nations,  and  promising  to  give  every 
encouragement  for  the  spreading  of  the  gospel ; 
to  oppose  every  attempt  at  establishing  a  slave 
trade,  and  not  to  make  any  hostile  movement 
against  any  of  the  surrounding  native  tribes,  unless 
such  tribe,  by  any  preceding  hostile  attack,  should 


136  THE   BOERS   IN    NATAL  [LECT. 

give  the  republicans  occasion  thereto,  so  that  they, 
for  the  maintenance  of  their  rights,  or  for  the 
security  of  their  property,  should  be  compelled  to 
take  up  arms  against  such  tribe. 

The  following  circumstances  which  were  then  in 
the  course  of  actual  occurrence  showed  in  how  far 
these  professions  could  be  relied  on.  Towards  the 
latter  end  of  the  year  1840  some  of  the  farmers  who 
had  taken  up  their  residence  between  the  Umkomas 
and  the  Umzimkulu  rivers  came  in  and  complained 
to  the  Volksraad  that  some  of  their  cattle  had  been 
carried  away  by  parties  of  Bushmen  who  were  skulk- 
ing in  the  Draaksberg  fastnesses,  and  urged  that  they 
should  be  followed  up  and  attacked  in  their  hiding- 
places.  In  the  month  of  December,  therefore,  a  party 
of  armed  burghers  was  embodied,  and  their  approved 
leader,  Andries  Pretorius,  was  again  appointed  by  the 
Volksraad  to  the  chief  command,  with  express  in- 
structions as  to  the  course  he  was  to  pursue.  After 
having  for  some  time  in  vain  beat  about  the  sources 
of  the  Umzimkulu  and  Umkomas  rivers,  some  scouts 
who  had  been  sent  out  by  Pretorius  reported  that 
traces  of  cattle,  which  they  had  reason  to  believe 
were  the  property  of  emigrant  farmers,  had  been 
followed  and  led  towards  some  kraals  of  the  Amabaka 
tribe,  under  the  chief  N'Capai.  Hereupon  it  was  at 
once  resolved  to  make  an  attack  upon  that  chieftain, 
and  the  forces  under  Pretorius  accordingly  attacked 
some  of  his  kraals  at  daybreak,  killed  several  men, 
captured  about  3000  head  of  cattle  and  about  250 


iv.]     UNJUSTIFIABLE  ATTACK   ON   NATIVES      137 

sheep  and  goats,  and  carried  off  into  captivity  about 
seventeen  little  boys  and  girls,  who  were  picked  up 
after  their  parents  had  either  been  killed  or  driven 
away  from  the  scene  of  slaughter. 

Upon  the  return  of  this  commando  it  was  soon 
felt  by  every  respectable  member  of  the  Volksraad 
that  Pretorius  had  grossly  departed  from  the  letter  of 
his  instructions,  and  that  these  proceedings  had  sadly 
laid  themselves  open  to  the  most  severe  animadver- 
sions from  the  whole  of  the  civilised  world.  *  At  the 
very  next  meeting  of  the  Volksraad  Pretorius  was 
called  upon  to  give  an  account  of  his  conduct,  and 
one  of  the  members  proposed  a  resolution  expressive 
of  the  unqualified  disapprobation  of  those  proceed- 
ings by  the  Volksraad ;  but  Pretorius,  being  supported 
by  his  powerful  clan  and  a  war  party,  succeeded  in 
getting  this  resolution  withdrawn,  so  that  subsequently 
to  this  little  was  said  about  these  untoward  events,  at 
least  within  this  district,  but  upon  the  intelligence 
reaching  the  Cape  frontier  a  general  burst  of  indig- 
nation arose  against  the  emigrant  farmers  on  account 
of  this  wanton  and  unprovoked  attack,  and  Sir 
George  Napier,  in  a  letter  addressed  to  me  upon 
the  subject  (and  which  I  have  carefully  preserved,  as 
doing  credit  both  to  his  head  and  heart),  thus 

*  A  memorial  had  been  drawn  out  and  addressed  to  the  Volksraad, 
by  a  number  of  respectable  inhabitants  residing  chiefly  at  and  near 
D' Urban,  strongly  protesting  against  this  act  of  aggression  made  by 
Pretorius,  contrary  to  the  written  instructions  which  had  been  delivered 
to  him  when  he  took  the  command  of  this  expedition. 


138  THE   BOERS   IN   NATAL  [LECT. 

expresses  his  feelings   in  reference  to  that   painful 
subject : — 

"To  suppose  that  yourself,  or  indeed  any  man  in  the 
colony,  with  a  spark  of  humanity  in  his  breast,  would 
attempt  to  palliate  such  a  flagrant  act  of  cruelty  and  in- 
justice, would  be  a  libel  on  my  part  quite  unjustifiable,  as  I 
am  well  convinced  that  the  moment  you  read  the  account  it 
must  have  made  a  deep  impression  of  horror  and  disgust  on 
so  sensitive  and  honourable  a  mind  as  I  believe  yours  to  be, 
from  the  intercourse  we  have  had  together,  particularly  as 
regards  the  conduct  of  your  misguided  countrymen  and 
fellow-subjects,  the  emigrant  farmers  of  Natal." 

He  informed  me  in  that  letter  (which  bears  date  at 
Graham's  Town,  2$th  January,  1841)  that  Faku  and 
the  Amaponda  tribes  had  now  become  apprehensive 
of  similar  unprovoked  attacks,  and  that,  in  short,  this 
attack  of  the  emigrant  farmers  upon  one  of  the 
peaceable  tribes  around  them  had  greatly  altered 
their  position,  since  previously  to  this  they  had  (as 
they  professed)  only  fought  for  their  own  safety  and 
in  order  to  prevent  the  Zoolah  chief,  Dingaan,  from 
accomplishing  by  force  and  treachery  their  total 
destruction,  whereas  they  had  now,  after  accomplish- 
ing their  avowed  object  and  while  living  in  peace, 
wantonly  sent  a  commando  to  attack  a  native  chief 
living  at  least  200  miles  from  their  country  and  close 
to  the  then  existing  borders  of  the  Cape  Colony. 

His  Excellency  thereupon  immediately  despatched 
a  force  of  250  infantry,  with  a  small  detachment  of 
the  Cape  Corps  and  two  field-pieces,  with  orders  to 


iv.]  ATTEMPTED   VINDICATION  139 

march  and  take  up  a  position  on  the  Umzimvubu; 
but  the  difficulties  of  such  a  land  expedition  induced 
His  Excellency  so  far  to  modify  his  arrangements 
that  the  troops  which  were  placed  under  the  com- 
mand of  Captain  Smith,  of  the  2/th  Regiment, 
ultimately  took  up  a  position  and  remained  for 
several  months  encamped  on  the  banks  of  the 
Umgazi  River,  awaiting  the  course  of  events.* 

From  that  moment,  however,  the  feelings  of  Sir 
George  Napier  towards  the  emigrant  farmers,  which 
had  previously  been  marked  by  the  utmost  kindli- 
ness and  sympathy,  were  considerably  altered ;  and 
he  did  not  hesitate  to  express  his  indignation  at 
their  conduct  in  a  letter  addressed  to  them,  which 
led  to  a  reply  from  themselves,  bearing  date  the 
7th  of  April,  1841,  in  which  (it  is  but  just  towards 
them  to  observe)  they  attempt  to  vindicate  their 
conduct  by  stating  that  they  had  the  undeniable 
proofs  that  some  of  their  cattle  had  been  traced  to 
the  kraals  of  N'Capai,  and  that  Faku  and  his  people 
themselves  had  given  the  information  that  N'Capai 
had  then  some  of  their  cattle  in  his  possession ;  but 
these  explanations  only  led  His  Excellency  to  an- 
nounce to  them  formally,  at  once,  that  he  declined 
any  further  intercourse  with  them,  unless  they  dis- 

*  The  Umgazi  is  a  small  stream  arising  in  the  Umtata  or  Zuurberg 
mountains  (being  a  continuation  of  the  Draaksberg  or  Quathlamba 
range  of  mountains,  running  from  the  Zoolah  country  to  the  eastern 
frontier  of  the  Cape  Colony),  and  flowing  about  midway  between 
the  Kie  (the  present  eastern  boundary  of  British  Kaffraria)  and  the 
Umzimvubu  or  St.  John's  River. 


HO  THE   BOERS   IN   NATAL  [LECT. 

tinctly  acknowledged  their  full  and  entire  allegiance 
to  their  lawful  Sovereign,  the  Queen  of  England, 
and  further  declared  their  willingness  to  obey  the 
lawful  authority  of  the  British  Government. 

A  few  months  after  this,  after  a  long  interval  of 
suspense  and  anxiety,  Sir  George  Napier  received 
a  communication  from  Her  Majesty's  Secretary  of 
State  for  the  colonies,  in  answer  to  his  several 
despatches  of  the  years  1840  and  1841,  in  which 
he  had  brought  before  the  notice  of  the  home 
Government  his  correspondence  with  the  Volksraad 
on  the  subject  of  their  application  to  be  declared 
a  free  and  independent  state.  About  that  time  an 
influential  set  of  politicians  had  frequently  mooted 
the  question  in  Parliament,  whether  our  colonial 
empire  was  not  becoming  far  too  extensive,  and 
rather  required  to  be  reduced  ;  and  who,  by  dwelling 
upon  the  Kafir  wars  and  the  Canada  and  the  New 
Zealand  rebellions,  and  the  expenses  thereby  in- 
curred, were  constantly  urging  upon  Her  Majesty's 
ministers  the  reduction  of  the  colonial  establishments 
to  the  lowest  scale  of  efficiency.  Under  the  influence 
of  such  a  pressure,  it  appears  that  the  home  Govern- 
ment were  very  reluctant  to  extend  their  settlements 
in  South  Africa ;  and  His  Excellency  was  therefore 
left  in  a  great  measure  to  use  his  own  discretion  in 
regard  to  the  matter  in  question,  having  merely 
received  an  announcement  "that  Her  Majesty  could 
not  acknowledge  the  independence  of  her  own  sub- 
jects, but  that  the  trade  of  the  emigrant  farmers 


IV.]  CLAIM   FOR   INDEPENDENCE  141 

would  be  placed  on  the  same  footing  as  that  of  any 
other  British  settlement,  upon  their  receiving  a 
military  force  to  exclude  the  interference  with  or 
possession  of  the  country  by  any  other  European 
power."  This  resolution  His  Excellency  communi- 
cated to  the  Volksraad,  in  a  letter  dated  $rd  Sep- 
tember, 1841,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that,  if  this 
communication  had  been  entertained  in  the  same 
spirit  in  which  it  had  originated,  the  emigrants  might 
even  then  have  secured  for  themselves  all  the  benefits 
of  self-government,  subject  only  to  a  mere  acknow- 
ledgment of  their  allegiance  to  Her  Majesty's  Govern- 
ment, and  with  the  additional  advantage  of  military 
protection  ;  but  the  very  announcement  that  military 
possession  would  be  taken  of  the  bay  was  sufficient 
to  impress  them  with  the  idea  that  they  were  to  be 
subject  to  military  rule;  and  under  this  impression 
they  sent  a  reply,  dated  nth  October,  1841,  wherein 
they  state  that,  having  asserted  and  maintained  their 
independence  as  "  Dutch  South  Africans  "  ever  since 
they  left  the  Cape  Colony,  they  were  fully  determined 
not  to  surrender  this  point,  and  "  as  Her  Majesty  has 
been  pleased  to  reject  their  very  fair  proposals,  they 
were  inclined  to  remain  on  the  same  footing  as  there- 
tofore," significantly  concluding  by  saying  that 

"Your  Excellency's  proposal  to  enter  into  a  treaty  with 
us  under  the  influence  of  a  military  force,  and  without  being 
acquainted  with  the  terms  of  agreement,  appears  to  us  so 
unintelligible  and  undefined,  that  unless  we  are  further 
informed,  we  cannot  comprehend  the  object  of  it." 


142  THE  BOERS   IN   NATAL  [LECT. 

His  Excellency  Sir  George  Napier  thereupon, 
under  the  rather  indefinite  authority  contained  in 
the  despatches  received  up  to  that  time  from  the 
Secretary  of  State,  issued  a  proclamation  on  the 
2nd  December,  1841,  in  which  he  declared — 

"That  whereas  the  Council  of  emigrant  farmers  now 
residing  at  Port  Natal  and  the  territory  adjacent  thereto, 
had  informed  His  Excellency  that  they  had  ceased  to  be 
British  subjects,  and  refused  to  be  recognised  or  treated 
as  such;  and  whereas  they  had  recently  passed  a  resolu- 
tion by  which  all  Kafirs  inhabiting  Natal  were  to  be 
removed,  without  their  consent,  into  a  country  lying  be- 
tween the  Umtaphoona  and  the  Umzimvubu,  forming  part 
of  the  territory  of  the  chief  Faku,  without  having  obtained 
the  consent  of  the  said  Faku ;  from  which  measure  warfare 
and  bloodshed  were  to  be  apprehended :  His  Excellency 
announced  his  intention  of  resuming  military  occupation 
of  Port  Natal  by  sending  thither,  without  delay,  a  detach- 
ment of  Her  Majesty's  forces." 

And  His  Excellency  further  solemnly  warned  the 
inhabitants  against  the  consequences  of  in  any  way 
resisting  or  opposing  Her  Majesty's  forces  or  the 
due  exercise  of  Her  Majesty's  authority,  and  in- 
formed those  who  resided  here,  not  being  British 
subjects,  that  they  would  be  placed  out  of  the 
protection  of  the  law  and  be  liable  to  be  dealt 
with  as  the  interests  of  the  Crown  might  require. 

This  proclamation,  on  reaching  Natal,  was  viewed 
in  the  light  of  an  overt  declaration  of  hostilities,  and 
was  answered  on  the  2ist  February,  1842,  in  a  very 


IV.]    PROTEST  AGAINST  BRITISH  SUPREMACY   143 

lengthened  and  elaborate  minute  addressed  to  His 
Excellency,  in  which  the  emigrant  farmers  recapitu- 
lated all  the  grievances  which  they  had  suffered 
from  successive  governments,  ascribing  all  their 
miseries  to  one  single  cause,  viz.,  the  absence  of  a 
representative  government,  which  had  been  asked  by 
them  during  many  years  past,  while  still  residing  in 
the  Cape  Colony,  but  had  as  often  been  delayed  or 
refused :  with  regard  to  the  intention  to  remove  the 
Kafirs,  they  declared  that  the  measure  proceeded 
from  real  practical  philanthropy,  to  avoid  that 
collision  of  different  races  which  would  inevitably 
result  from  the  continued  residence  of  themselves 
amongst  the  natives ;  and  with  regard  to  their 
intention  to  remove  them  to  the  country  between 
the  Umtaphoona  and  the  Umzimvubu,  that  it  had 
been  expressly  stipulated  by  their  treaty  with 
Dingaan  that  their  territory  was  to  extend  to  the 
latter  river,  all  that  country  having  been  previously 
conquered  by  Chaka ;  and  Faku  having,  moreover, 
formally  acknowledged  the  right  of  the  emigrant 
farmers  to  it.  This  document  concluded  with  a 
solemn  protest  against  the  occupation  of  any  part 
of  their  country  by  Her  Majesty's  troops ;  and 
declared  that  they  thereby  held  themselves  free  from 
all  blame  from  the  injurious  consequences  of  that 
step,  before  God,  their  own  consciences,  and  the 
world ! 

No  doubt  can  at  present  exist  in  any  dispassionate 
and  impartial  mind,  that  this  important  document, 


144  THE   BOERS   IN   NATAL  [LECT. 

which  had  been  drawn  up  by  Mr.  Boshof  for  the 
Volksraad,  ably  answered  the  proclamation  of  His 
Excellency,  to  which  might  justly  be  applied  the 
remark  or  piece  of  advice  given  me  by  an  eminent 
special  pleader  of  Lincoln's  Inn  when  I  took  leave 
of  him  on  my  departure  for  the  Cape  Colony,  and 
when  he,  rather  prophetically  anticipating  my  future 
elevation  to  the  bench,  said — "  Now,  Mr.  Cloete,  you 
have  entered  the  law,  and  may  possibly  one  day  be 
elevated  to  the  judicial  bench.  Allow  me,  therefore, 
to  give  you  one  friendly  advice.  Whenever  you  have 
to  give  your  judgments,  abstain  as  much  as  possible 
from  giving  your  reasons ;  for  your  judgments  may 
often  be  perfectly  right,  and  yet  your  reasons  alto- 
gether wrong." 

There  is  no  doubt  that  in  this  case  the  hostile 
attitude  assumed  by  the  emigrant  farmers  left  the 
Governor  of  the  Cape  no  alternative  but  either  to 
admit  or  deny  their  independence,  and  the  measure 
of  sending  a  military  force  became  the  only  one 
calculated  to  put  that  question  at  once  to  the  test ; 
but  perhaps  the  result  of  that  movement  might 
have  been  quite  different  had  it  not  been  for  an 
incident  in  the  history  of  this  district,  which  exerted 
an  overwhelming  influence  on  the  minds  of  the 
inhabitants  generally  and  of  the  members  of  the 
Volksraad  in  particular.  The  very  next  month  after 
their  solemn  protest  had  been  transmitted  to  Sir 
George  Napier,  a  Dutch  vessel,  called  the  Brasilia, 
anchored  in  the  port  of  Port  Natal,  and  the  supercargo, 


IV.]  BOER  CREDULITY  145 

Mr.  Smellekamp,  who  afterwards  resided  in  the 
Orange  Free  State  (as  it  is  now  called),  informed 
the  emigrant  farmers  upon  his  first  arrival  that  a 
number  of  merchants  in  Holland  had  taken  a  deep 
interest  in  their  affairs,  and  had  despatched  this 
vessel  for  the  express  purpose  of  opening  a  direct 
trade  with  their  country,  and  supplying  them  with 
"  notions "  of  Dutch  produce  and  manufacture :  this 
arrival,  and  the  display  of  the  Dutch  flag,  aroused  in 
all  the  emigrant  farmers  the  most  extravagant  affec- 
tion for  the  country  and  people  to  which  most  of 
them  traced  their  descent.  Mr.  Smellekamp  was 
received  at  this  place  with  triumphal  honours  ;  public 
dinners  were  given  him ;  the  Dutch  flag  became  the 
ensign  of  the  new  republic;  and  Mr.  Smellekamp,  led 
away  by  the  enthusiasm  with  which  his  arrival  had 
been  greeted,  gave  the  inhabitants  of  Natal  the  most 
exaggerated  ideas  of  the  power  and  influence  of 
Holland  in  the  council  of  nations ;  moreover,  assuring 
them  of  the  sympathy  and  support  of  the  King  of 
Holland,  and  finally  entered  into  a  formal  treaty  with 
the  Volksraad  assuring  them  of  the  "  protection  "  of 
Holland,  to  which  he  affixed  his  signature  in  these 
terms : — 

"  Accepted  in  the  name  of  the  King  of  the  Netherlands, 
subject  to  His  Majesty's  formal  approval ! " 

He  further  gave  them  the  strongest  assurances  that 
they  would  soon  be  provided  with  ministers  and 
schoolmasters  for  the  improvement  of  their  moral 


146  THE   BOERS   IN   NATAL  [LECT. 

condition,  and  with  arms  and  ammunition  to  repel 
any  hostile  attack  with  which  they  might  be 
threatened. 

I  cannot  give  a  more  striking  illustration  of  the 
manner  in  which  the  Volksraad  were  misled  on  that 
occasion,  as  to  the  support  they  expected  from  the 
King  of  Holland,  than  by  relating  the  following 
anecdote.  Some  days  after  my  arrival  here  in 
June,  1843,  I  had  an  interview  with  several  leading 
members  of  the  Volksraad,  in  the  course  of  which  I 
happened  to  allude  to  some  political  measures  going 
on  in  Europe,  and  to  state  that  such  a  measure  was 
under  the  consideration  of  the  five  great  powers : 
whereupon  I  was  at  once  asked  by  the  spokesman, 
which  were  these  five  great  powers  to  which  I  had 
alluded.  I  replied  that  those  powers  were  Eng- 
land, France,  Russia,  Austria,  and  Prussia.  The 
querist  at  once  exclaimed,  "  And  is  Holland  not  one 
of  them?"  This  compelled  me  to  enter  at  some 
length  into  the  modern  history  of  Europe,  and  to 
explain  to  them  how  Holland  had,  since  the  year 
1830,  by  the  rebellion  and  subsequent  formation  of 
Belgium  into  a  separate  kingdom,  dwindled  into  a 
third-rate  power  of  Europe ;  when  the  spokesman 
significantly  and  bitterly  replied,  "  We  were  never  told 
that  before,  but  the  very  reverse  !  " 

The  emigrant  farmers  were,  however,  so  fully  con- 
vinced at  the  time  that  they  had  now  obtained  the 
countenance  of  a  first-rate  European  power  in  support 
of  their  independence,  that  Mr.  Smellekamp  had 


IV.]  APPEAL  TO   HOLLAND  147 

all  his  travelling  expenses  paid  to  enable  him  to 
return  to  Holland  direct  (as  the  Brasilia  was 
destined  for  a  lengthened  cruise  to  the  eastward); 
and  he  was,  moreover,  made  the  bearer  of  a  number 
of  official  and  other  letters  to  the  Ministers  of  State 
of  his  Majesty  the  King  of  Holland,  and  to  many 
influential  persons  in  that  country,  claiming  the 
interposition  of  those  persons  in  support  of  the 
independence  of  Natal ;  this  was  the  state  of  feeling 
which  prevailed  among  all  classes  and  both  sexes 
of  the  community  here,  when  arrangements  were  at 
length  completed  to  enable  Captain  Smith  to  break 
up  from  the  Umgazi  camp,  and  to  pursue  his  course 
overland  to  Natal. 

I  cannot  refrain  from  relating  here  a  remarkable 
interview  I  had  with  His  Excellency  Sir  George 
Napier  on  this  subject.  More  than  a  year  before 
this  time  His  Excellency  had  disclosed  to  me  (being 
then  a  member  of  the  Legislative  Council  at  the 
Cape),  in  the  most  frank  and  confidential  manner, 
his  views  with  regard  to  this  district,  and  when  his 
correspondence  with  the  emigrant  farmers  assumed 
a  somewhat  serious  aspect  (after  their  attack  upon 
N'Capai),  His  Excellency  even  proposed  to  me  to 
undertake  a  mission  to  this  country,  which  he  was 
anxious  to  confide  to  me ;  but  I  at  once  respectfully 
declined  the  offer,  stating  that  so  long  as  the  home 
Government  had  not  determined  upon  its  final 
course  in  regard  to  this  question  I  could  never  hope 
to  accomplish  anything  satisfactory  to  either  party. 


148  THE  BOERS   IN   NATAL  [LECT 

His  Excellency  still  continued  to  communicate  to 
me  every  step  in  the  correspondence  and  relations 
between  the  two  countries,  and  the  views  of  Her 
Majesty's  Government  upon  the  subject ;  and  in 
the  month  of  January,  1841,  His  Excellency  had 
already,  in  the  fullest  manner,  explained  to  me  his 
policy  in  regard  to  this  question.  In  the  month 
of  April,  1842,  His  Excellency  informed  me  that 
the  necessary  arrangements  having  been  now  entirely 
completed,  Captain  Smith  had,  by  the  last  post, 
announced  his  departure  from  the  Umgazi  camp, 
on  his  march  to  Natal.  I  could  not  help  replying 
that  I  deeply  regretted  to  hear  this  news,  as  I 
anticipated  the  most  deplorable  results  from  such 
a  movement.  Upon  His  Excellency  pressing  me 
for  a  further  explanation,  I  at  once  said  that  I 
understood  the  captain's  force  to  consist  of  250 
infantry,  besides  a  small  party  of  the  Cape  Corps 
and  two  field-pieces,  encumbered,  moreover,  by  a 
numerous  waggon  train  ;  that  such  a  force  appeared 
to  me  just  sufficient  to  show  a  hostile  intention 
towards  the  emigrant  farmers,  without  being  suffi- 
cient to  secure  success,  if  hostilities  should  ensue, 
as  they  certainly  would ;  and  that  if  the  farmers 
were  to  be  aware  of  the  march  of  the  troops  there 
was  not  a  kloof  or  a  drift  which  the  latter  would 
have  to  pass  where  they  might  not  be  cut  off  without 
a  chance  of  even  making  an  effectual  resistance. 
Upon  His  Excellency  then  asking  me  what  steps 
I  should  propose,  I  stated  that  if  it  were  intended 


IV.]   ARRIVAL  OF  MILITARY  FORCE  IN  NATAL    149 

to  take  possession  of  the  port,  this  should  be  done 
from  the  sea,  and  the  troops  landed  from  vessels 
which  might  at  once  put  them  on  shore.  His  Excel- 
lency, however,  replied  that  he  had  been  informed 
that  the  entrance  to  the  bay  was  defended  by  field- 
works,  which  would  render  the  landing  dangerous ; 
and,  in  short,  that  the  measure  under  discussion  had 
already  been  decisively  settled  by  the  troops  having 
passed  into  the  Amaponda  country ;  but  the  sub- 
stance of  this  interview  was  forgotten  neither  by 
His  Excellency  nor  by  myself  when  the  disastrous 
events  which  I  am  about  to  refer  to  became  known 
in  Cape  Town. 

Captain  Smith  was  at  that  time  marching  his 
little  army  along  what  is  termed  the  lower  or  coast 
road.  The  rivers  were  still  much  swollen  by  recent 
rains,  and  as  many  difficulties  were  thus  to  be  en- 
countered and  overcome,  it  occupied  upwards  of  six 
weeks  in  bringing  this  force  in  safety  through  such  a 
country,  through  which  only  a  trader's  waggon  was 
known  previously  to  have  passed  ;  but  so  sparse  was 
the  population,  and  so  quietly  had  the  march  been 
managed,  that  the  occupants  of  the  picturesque  farm 
of  Sea  View  (the  late  Mr.  Dunn  and  his  family) 
were  suddenly  surprised,  on  the  3rd  of  May,  1842, 
by  seeing  the  detachment  enter  their  grounds  at  the 
head  of  the  bay  of  Natal.  The  following  day  the 
troops  marched  through  the  hamlet  of  Congella,  and 
took  up  their  position  in  the  flat  nearly  on  the  same 
spot  as  that  where  the  camp  is  at  present  situated. 


ISO  THE  BOERS  IN  NATAL  [LECT. 

So  far  they  had  fortunately  succeeded  in  taking  up 
their  ground  at  D' Urban  without  the  slightest  opposi- 
tion, and  a  few  days  after  their  arrival  the  Pilot  brig 
came  to  anchor  in  the  bay,  bringing  them  an  ample 
supply  of  stores  and  provisions  (of  which  they  stood 
much  in  need),  as  also  two  iS-pounders  and  ammuni- 
tion ;  and  this  vessel  was  soon  afterwards  followed  by 
the  Mazeppa,  schooner,  so  that  Captain  Smith  also 
took  possession  of  the  spit  (where  the  present  Custom 
House  is  now  established),  and  placed  a  small  detach- 
ment there  to  take  charge  of  the  goods  as  they  were 
landed,  and  from  whence  he  commenced  drawing  the 
supplies  to  the  camp  as  occasion  required. 

In  the  meantime  the  Volksraad  (then  assembled  at 
Pietermaritzburg),  astounded  at  having  been  thus  cut 
off  from  their  only  seaport,  ordered  out  the  whole  of 
their  armed  burghers,  under  Andries  Pretorius,  as  com- 
mander-in-chief,  to  the  number  of  300  or  400  men. 
Their  headquarters  were  established  at  Congella,  and 
messages  at  first,  and  afterwards  letters,  passed  be- 
tween Pretorius  and  Captain  Smith,  the  former 
insisting  upon  the  troops  quitting  their  position,  and 
the  latter  demanding  that  the  armed  burgher  force 
which  was  gathering  around  should  be  withdrawn. 
Fourteen  days  had  passed  in  this  state  of  armed 
negotiation,  when  on  May  23rd  some  of  Captain 
Smith's  cattle  (which  had  always  been  grazing  on  the 
flats  below  the  Berea  Hills)  were  carried  off  by  some 
of  the  herds  of  the  emigrants;  and  Captain  Smith, 
viewing  this  as  an  act  of  direct  hostility,  determined 


IV.]  NIGHT  ATTACK  ON   THE   BOERS  151 

at  once  to  carry  out  a  plan  he  had  projected  for  some 
time,  grounded  (I  fear)  upon  some  well-intended  but 
erroneous  information  he  had  received  from  some  of 
the  English  residents  at  D' Urban  (with  whom  he 
was  in  constant  communication),  for  making  a  night 
attack  upon  the  emigrants  collected  at  Congella,  and 
thus  destroying  their  camp,  waggons,  and  supplies. 

The  result  of  that  "  untoward  expedition  "  may  be 
best  gathered  from  Captain  Smith's  own  despatch, 
which  I  will  proceed  to  give  in  a  condensed  form, 
but  in  nearly  the  very  words  of  the  writer,  as  found 
in  his  official  letter  to  Colonel  Hare,  commanding 
his  regiment,  and  the  Lieutenant  -  Governor  of  the 
eastern  frontier. 

"  In  my  last  despatch,"  he  says,  "  I  detailed  the  various 
steps  taken  by  the  farmers  to  annoy  the  troops,  and  my 
determination  to  abstain  if  possible  from  hostilities  if  it 
could  be  done  without  detriment  to  the  honour  of  the 
service,  etc. ;  but  the  receipt  of  an  insolent  letter,  demand- 
ing that  I  should  instantly  quit  Natal,  followed  by  the 
removal,  by  armed  men,  of  a  quantity  of  cattle  belonging 
to  the  troops,  rendered  it  absolutely  necessary  that  some 
steps  should  be  taken  in  order  to  prevent  a  repetition  of 
such  outrages. 

"I  therefore  determined,  after  mature  consideration,  to 
march  a  force  and  attack  their  camp  at  the  Congella, 
and  set  apart  the  night  of  the  23rd"  (the  same  day  the 
cattle  were  taken)  "to  effect  that  object.  As  the  road  to 
the  Congella  lies  for  the  most  part  through  thick  bush,  / 
thought  it  best  to  cross  the  sands  at  low  water,  etc. 

"  Fitting  a  howitzer  in  a  boat,  and  leaving  it  under  charge 
of  a  sergeant  of  artillery,  I  gave  directions  to  drop  down  the 


152  THE   BOERS  IN   NATAL  [LECT. 

channel  to  within  500  yards  of  Congella,  and  there  aivait 
the  troops,  in  order  that  they  might  form  under  cover  of  its 
fire,  aided  by  two  six-pounders,  which  accompanied  the 
force  I  took  with  me." 

[N.B. — That  force  is  then  stated  in  detail  to  have  amounted  to 
140  men.] 

The  writer  goes  on : — 

"In  order  to  prevent  our  movements  being  discovered,  I 
put  the  party  in  motion  at  n  p.m.  (it  being  a  bright  moon- 
light!}, and  arrived  without  molestation  within  nearly  800 
yards  of  the  place  I  proposed  to  attack. 

"To  my  great  mortification,  I  found  that  the  boat  had 
not  dropped  down  the  channel,  according  to  my  instructions; 
but  as  I  considered  it  imprudent  to  wait,  I  was  forced  to 
make  the  attack  without  the  valuable  assistance  which  a 
discharge  of  shot  and  shells  from  the  howitzer  would  have 
afforded  me. 

"  The  troops  had  just  moved  to  where  the  termination  of 
a  range  of  mangrove  bush  opened  to  a  level  space  in  front 
of  the  Congella,  when  a  heavy  and  well-directed  fire  was 
opened  upon  us.  A  destructive  fire  from  the  guns  for  a 
while  silenced  our  opponents;  but  some  of  the  draught 
oxen  to  the  guns  getting  killed,  and  others  wounded  and 
escaping  from  their  trektouws,  rushed  among  the  troops, 
upsetting  the  limbers,  causing  much  delay  in  reloading  and 
confusion  in  the  ranks.  This  circumstance,  added  to  the 
partial  and  at  length  total  silence  of  the  guns,  being  taken 
advantage  of,  they  again  opened  a  heavy  fire,  a  severe  loss 
resulting  to  the  troops,  etc.,  who  reached  the  camp  about 
two  o'clock  in  the  morning  in  tolerable  order,  leaving  behind 
them,  I  regret  to  say,  the  guns,  which  the  death  of  the 
oxen  rendered  it  impossible  to  remove  !" 


iv.]  THE   BOERS   PREPARED  153 

This   is   the   substance    of   Captain    Smith's   own 
official  account ;  to  which  he  adds  : — 

"The  loss  of  the  Boers  it  is  difficult  to  estimate,  but  I 
am  told  it  has  been  severe ! " 


There  can  be  no  doubt,  however,  in  any  reasonable 
mind  that  the  whole  of  this  disaster  arose  from  the 
captain's  utter  ignorance  of  the  character  of  the 
people  he  was  going  to  attack,  and  of  his  want  of 
acquaintance  with  the  particular  route  he  had 
selected.  He  admits  that  he  first  sent  out  a  piquet 
to  skirt  the  road  in  front  of  his  position  to  prevent 
his  movements  from  being  discovered,  while  he  selected 
a  bright  moonlight  for  his  advance. 

Now  the  fact  was  that  every  evening  his  camp  was 
regularly  surrounded  by  vedettes  or  guards,  placed 
by  the  commandant  of  the  emigrant  farmers,  who 
watched  and  reported  during  the  night  the  most 
trifling  incident  that  took  place ;  and  on  the  night 
in  question  the  Field-cornet  Joubert,  with  twenty- 
four  men,  had  been  posted  in  the  woods  through 
which  we  still  have  to  pass  in  going  to  Congella, 
but  which  then  consisted  of  far  denser  bush  than 
they  do  at  present.  This  party  saw  and  watched 
the  march  of  the  troops ;  sent  word  to  headquarters 
at  Congella  to  put  the  burghers  there  upon  their 
guard,  and  as  the  moon  shone  with  almost  the 
brightness  of  day,  they  gradually  ensconced  them- 
selves each  man  behind  one  of  the  mangrove  trees 
that  grew  down  as  far  as  low-water  mark,  and  there 


154  THE  BOERS  IN  NATAL  [LECT. 

waited  till  they  distinctly  heard  the  word  of  com- 
mand given  to  the  troops  to  draw  up  in  line,  when 
they  commenced  and  kept  up  a  steady  and  deliberate 
fire,  chiefly  directed  at  the  guns  and  drivers,  and 
soon  killing  a  promising  young  officer  (Lieut.  Wyatt) 
of  the  Artillery,  who  had  the  charge  of  the  guns. 
The  troops  were  thus  thrown  into  utter  confusion, 
and  hastily  fell  back;  the  tide  having  by  that  time 
risen  so  far  as  to  place  them  breast-high  in  water; 
and  the  admitted  loss  of  103  men  killed,  wounded, 
and  missing  out  of  a  party  of  140  who  had  marched 
out  of  the  camp  too  clearly  showed  the  fatal  effects 
of  the  fire  to  which  they  had  been  exposed ;  while 
not  a  single  man  of  the  emigrant  party  had  been 
hurt. 

Equally  injudicious  were  the  arrangements  of  the 
English  commander,  founded  on  the  support  he  ex- 
pected to  receive  from  the  howitzer  in  the  boat,  for 
everyone  now  knows  that  at  low  water  there  is  no 
channel  affording  sufficient  depth  of  water  for  a  boat 
with  a  heavy  load  to  approach  the  Congella ;  so 
that,  while  the  ebb-tide  enabled  the  troops  to  march, 
the  boat  could  not  possibly  accompany  them  ;  while, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  moment  there  was  sufficient 
depth  of  water  for  the  boat  to  approach,  the  men 
would  be  up  to  their  waists  in  water,  and  unable  to 
perform  any  effectual  service,  so  that  it  was  physically 
impossible  that  the  one  could  have  acted  in  support 
of  the  other. 

But  if  the  planning  and  execution  of  this  unto- 


iv.]  PREPARING  FOR  DEFENCE  155 

ward  movement  are  justly  open  to  the  severest 
censure,  it  is  equally  due  to  Captain  Smith  to  add 
that  his  exertions,  his  perseverance,  and  the  example 
he  set  in  the  time  of  distress  entitle  him  to  the 
greatest  praise.  Reduced  to  nearly  one  half  of  his 
original  strength  by  this  misfortune,  and  expecting 
every  moment  an  attack  on  his  camp,  he  applied  the 
next  morning  early  for  a  truce  of  twenty-four  hours, 
to  bring  in  and  bury  the  dead.  This  having  been 
readily  granted,  he  was  indefatigable  in  putting  his 
camp  into  a  posture  of  defence.  The  numerous 
waggons  he  had  brought  with  him  were  immediately 
so  arranged  as  to  fortify  the  place,  somewhat  in  the 
fashion  of  a  Boers'  laager,  and  the  soft  and  sandy 
nature  of  the  soil  enabled  him,  with  the  aid  of  all 
the  non-combatants,  to  dig  a  trench  and  throw  up  a 
mound  around  the  camp,  by  which  the  troops  were 
in  some  measure  protected.  But  the  commanding 
officer  also  perceived  that  his  only  chance  of  relief 
depended  upon  the  rapid  transmission  of  intelligence 
to  the  authorities  in  the  Cape  Colony.  He  consulted 
some  of  the  principal  Englishmen  then  resident  at 
D'Urban,  and  he  happily  found  in  your  present 
worthy  and  worshipful  mayor  (George  Cato),  a  faith- 
ful adviser,  through  whom  means  were  devised  to 
expedite  the  immediate  intelligence  to  the  Cape 
Colony. 

Richard  (commonly  called  Dick)  King,  then  living 
in  a  hut  at  D'Urban,  at  once  offered  to  take  the 
despatch  (of  which  I  have  just  given  the  substance) 


156  THE   BOERS   IN   NATAL  [LECT. 

personally  to  Graham's  Town.  The  following  night 
he  was  supplied  with  two  troopers,  and  the  moment 
night  had  spread  darkness  around  Mr.  Cato  got 
Dick  King  and  the  horses  across  the  bay  to  the  bluff, 
where  King,  mounting  one  horse  and  leading  the 
other,  soon  crossed  the  Umlaas,  and  before  daybreak 
passed  the  Umcomas,  where  he  was  safe  from  further 
pursuit,  and  wended  his  perilous  journey  across  Kafir- 
land,  where  we  shall  leave  him  for  the  present 

The  emigrant  farmers,  elated  by  their  first  success 
and  the  capture  of  two  brass  six-pounders,  next 
turned  their  attention  to  the  supplies  which  Captain 
Smith  was  receiving  from  the  point  and  the  vessels 
in  the  bay ;  and  two  days  after  the  former  night 
attack  they  made  another  on  their  side,  attended 
with  complete  success.  A  detachment  of  their 
mounted  men  went  unperceived  past  the  mouth  of 
the  Umgeni,  skirted  the  back  beach  (as  it  is  called) 
at  low  water,  and  suddenly  rushing  upon  the  small 
detachment  which  was  posted  at  the  point,  quickly 
overpowered  it,  the  officer  in  command  having  barely 
time  to  escape  by  jumping  through  the  back  window 
of  the  hut  he  was  occupying.  Two  men  were  killed, 
two  more  wounded,  and  the  remainder  of  the  detach- 
ment were  taken  prisoners,  and,  together  with  most 
of  the  English  inhabitants  of  D'Urban  (who  were 
naturally  inclined  to  assist  Her  Majesty's  troops), 
were  all  brought  up  to  this  town  of  Pietermaritzburg, 
where  the  present  court-house  was  converted  into  a 
prison,  in  which  they  were  kept  closely  confined. 


IV.]  THE   BRITISH  TROOPS   BESIEGED  157 

One  eighteen-pounder  and  a  great  part  of  the 
provisions  still  remaining  in  the  Pilot  and  Mazeppa, 
which  Captain  Smith  had  not  been  able  to  remove, 
together  with  many  engineers'  tools,  were  thus  cap- 
tured ;  but  fortunately  all  the  ammunition  had  been 
previously  removed  to  the  camp  and  secured  in  a 
temporary  magazine.  The  vessels  at  anchor  and  the 
point  itself  were  thus  taken  by  the  emigrants,  and 
the  troops  thereby  completely  cut  off  from  any 
further  communication  by  sea. 

The  farmers,  having  thus  possessed  themselves  of 
one  long  eighteen-pounder  and  two  brass  six- 
pounders,  commenced  regular  field-works  around  the 
camp,  and  having  brought  their  guns  to  bear,  carried 
on  for  three  days  a  heavy  cannonade  against  the 
camp,  the  guns  being  well  handled  by  a  few  Germans 
whom  they  had  enlisted  for  that  service,  and  who 
had  served  in  some  of  the  Continental  armies  before 
settling  in  this  district.  Their  fire  was  answered  by 
a  howitzer  and  an  eighteen-pounder,  which  Captain 
Smith  had  been  able  to  get  up  from  the  point  before 
its  capture.  But  ammunition  and  shot  soon  failing 
the  besiegers,  they  established  a  foundry,  where  the 
links  of  a  chain  cable,  taken  from  the  Mazeppa  or 
Pilot,  were  severed  and  covered  with  lead,  of  which 
they  had  a  tolerably  good  supply.  But  this  stock 
also  becoming  soon  exhausted,  as  well  as  their  gun- 
powder, they  determined  to  await  the  more  tedious  but 
more  certain  effect  of  a  rigid  blockade,  well  knowing 
that  if  the  troops  were  effectually  deprived  of  all 


158  THE  BOERS  IN   NATAL  [LECT. 

external  aid,  they  must  succumb  to  the  pressure  of 
famine. 

Captain  Smith  had  previously  foreseen  that  this 
last  would  prove  to  be  his  most  serious  enemy,  and 
he  had  therefore  provided  against  it  with  the  utmost 
care.  All  the  remaining  cattle  (which  he  was  now 
unable  to  send  out  to  graze)  and  the  horses  in  the 
camp  (for  which  he  no  longer  had  food)  were 
slaughtered  and  converted  into  "biltong,"  and  the 
troops  were  placed  on  the  shortest  allowance  possible. 
Two  different  sorties,  made  during  the  month  of 
June,  led  to  no  further  result  than  the  loss  of  a  few 
lives  on  both  sides ;  but  the  emaciated  forms,  the 
sunken  eyes,  and  the  dejected  appearance  of  the 
soldiers  in  the  camp  indicated  but  too  clearly  that 
this  state  of  things  could  not  last  much  longer. 
Already  had  their  rations  been  reduced  to  the 
smallest  quantity  sufficient  to  sustain  life,  and  for 
some  days  the  biltong  of  horseflesh  had  been  issued  as 
their  only  animal  food ;  and  after  having  been  thus 
hemmed  in  for  thirty  days,  every  hour  and  minute 
began  to  be  calculated  as  to  the  probability  of  their 
receiving  timely  succour.  At  length,  as  darkness 
set  in  on  the  evening  of  the  24th  of  June,  several 
rockets  and  blue-lights,  illuminating  the  sky  and 
hills  to  seaward,  announced  that  relief  was  at  hand. 

At  this  juncture  I  shall  at  present  conclude  this 
lecture,  as  I  fear  I  have  already  trespassed  too  long 
upon  your  time  and  patience,  and  indeed  I  have 
found,  as  I  was  proceeding,  that  to  give  only  a 


IV.]          THE   LAST  ACTS   OF  THE   DRAMA  159 

summary  of  events  would  far  exceed  the  limits  of 
a  single  address.  If  you,  then,  continue  to  feel  an 
interest  in  the  subject,  I  intend,  a  few  days  hence, 
to  conclude  this  portion  of  history  in  another  lecture 
in  this  place,  when  I  propose  to  exhibit  to  you  the 
last  acts  of  the  drama  in  which  many  fierce  passions 
and  contests  were  still  displayed,  but  ending  in  the 
final  submission  of  this  country  to  Her  Majesty's 
authority. 


LECTURE  V. 
SUBMISSION  TO  THE  CROWN 

I  STATED  in  my  last  lecture  that  Captain  Smith, 
after  his  disastrous  defeat  at  the  Congella,  had 
found  in  the  present  worthy  mayor  of  D' Urban  (Mr. 
George  Cato)  a  faithful  adviser,  and  in  Richard  King 
an  energetic,  public-spirited  messenger,  who,  without 
taking  any  selfish  advantage  of  the  circumstances, 
responded  at  once  to  his  call,  and  went  off  to 
announce  the  fatal  result  of  the  night  attack  on 
the  Congella  to  the  authorities  in  the  Cape  Colony. 
It  was  evident  that  the  only  chance  of  relief 
depended  on  the  speed  with  which  that  intelligence 
was  conveyed,  and  Dick  King  (as  he  is  commonly 
called),  feeling  the  importance  of  this  mission,  got 
through  the  Amabaka*  and  Amaponda  countries 
at  the  extreme  peril  of  his  life,  and  on  the  ninth 
day  reached  Graham's  Town  in  an  almost  exhausted 
state.  On  the  receipt  of  this  sad  intelligence  the 

*  He  was  surrounded  by  the  Amabakas,  who,  mistaking  him  at 
first  for  a  Dutch  emigrant  farmer,  were  about  to  take  revenge  upon  him 
for  the  attack  made  upon  them  by  Pretorius ;  but  he,  happily,  could 
make  himself  understood,  and  explained  his  errand,  upon  which  they 
allowed  him  to  pass. 

1 60 


LECT.  v.]    SUCCOUR  FOR  THE   BESIEGED  161 

Lieutenant-Governor  on  the  frontier  (Colonel  Hare) 
immediately  despatched  the  grenadier  company  of 
the  27th  Regiment  to  Port  Elizabeth,  where  they 
were  embarked  in  the  schooner  the  Conch,  then 
fortunately  lying  there  at  anchor,  under  the  com- 
mand of  our  present  port-captain  (Captain  Bell),  who 
had  already  visited,  and  was  well  acquainted  with, 
the  harbour  of  Natal ;  and  Sir  George  Napier,  upon 
receiving  the  same  painful  account  at  Cape  Town, 
had  fortunately  at  his  disposal  the  25th  Regiment, 
which  was  then  only  awaiting  transports  to  take 
them  on  to  India,  but  which  might  not  be  expected 
for  some  weeks.  Admiral  Percy  (the  admiral  on 
the  station)  at  once  gave  up  his  flagship,  the 
Southampton,  of  fifty  guns,  for  the  proposed  ex- 
pedition ;  and  my  worthy  and  excellent  brother, 
Colonel  (now  Sir  Josias  Cloete),  having  been  placed 
in  command  of  the  whole  force,  the  25th  Regiment 
were  marched  down  and  embarked  at  Simon's  Town, 
and  in  an  incredibly  short  space  of  time,  on  the 
24th  June  (exactly  one  month  from  the  day  of 
Captain  Smith's  disaster),  the  Southampton  arrived 
off  the  bar  and  found  the  Conch,  which  had  anchored 
off  the  bay  the  day  preceding,  and  as  the  evening 
fell  rockets  and  blue-lights  were  immediately  thrown 
up  to  cheer  the  besieged  with  the  prospect  of  instant 
relief. 

The  next  day,  every  arrangement  being  made  to 
effect  a  landing,  the  Southampton  brought  up  as  close 
to  the  beach  as  she  could  with  safety  approach,  and 
M 


162  SUBMISSION  TO  THE  CROWN          [LECT. 

a  favourable  south-east  breeze  having  just  sprung  up, 
Captain  Bell,  in  the  Conch,  led  the  way  over  the  bar, 
having  all  the  man-of-war  boats  in  tow,  the  last  of 
which,  as  they  got  on  the  bar,  cast  off  their  lines 
and  landed,  and  attacked  the  Bluff,  where  the 
emigrant  farmers  had  planted  two  ship  guns  with 
a  small  force  to  defend  the  approach  to  the  bay. 
But  Captain  Wells,  of  the  25th  Regiment,  with  his 
small  party  soon  effected  a  landing  and  captured 
their  guns,  while  the  Conch  and  the  remaining  boats 
were  exposed  to  a  severe  cross-fire  as  they  entered 
the  port ;  but  the  tide  and  breeze  had  wafted  them 
in  so  rapidly  that  with  the  trifling  loss  of  two  killed 
and  four  wounded  the  main  body,  under  the  com- 
mand of  Colonel  Cloete  and  Major  D'Urban,  made 
good  their  landing  near  the  old  custom-house,  from 
whence  the  emigrant  farmers  were  soon  completely 
driven  away,  their  flag  taken  down  and  captured, 
and  their  whole  force  pursued  towards  the  Congella, 
thus  placing  Colonel  Cloete  in  communication  with 
Captain  Smith,  and  the  whole  of  the  country  within 
the  Berea  Hills  in  his  possession.  The  next  day, 
hearing  that  some  of  the  farmers  were  still  gathered 
at  the  Congella,  Colonel  Cloete  advanced  with  200 
men  and  drove  them  from  that  position,  when  they 
retired  to  Cowie's  farm,  at  the  foot  of  the  hill  which 
now  encloses  the  rising  Pine  Town,  to  the  south- 
ward. But  now  the  commanding  officer  found 
himself  placed  in  a  most  anxious  position ;  the 
gentle  south-east  breeze  which  had  wafted  them 


v.]  MURDER   BY   KAFIR  AUXILIARIES  163 

on  shore  on  the  25th  of  June  increased  the  same 
evening  into  a  violent  and  (at  that  season  of  the 
year)  very  unusual  gale  from  the  south-east.  The 
Southampton,  which  had  so  gallantly  placed  itself 
as  near  as  possible  to  the  bar  to  aid  in  the  landing 
of  the  troops,  after  drifting  awhile,  was  obliged  to 
put  to  sea  with  the  loss  of  some  of  her  anchors, 
having  with  difficulty  weathered  the  dangerous  Bluff, 
and  was  driven  about  for  four  or  five  days  without 
a  chance  of  returning  to  the  anchorage.  The  supplies 
on  board  the  Conch  and  those  found  at  the  Congella 
were  quite  insufficient  to  supply  food  for  the  six 
or  seven  hundred  men  now  under,  his  command, 
and  Colonel  Cloete  thus  availed  himself  of  the  only 
means  he  had  at  hand  to  ensure  some  supplies.  A 
number  of  petty  Kafir  chieftains,  attracted  by  the 
hostilities  which  had  been  going  on  for  more 
than  a  month,  immediately  repaired  to  the  camp, 
tendering  their  ready  assistance,  and  Colonel  Cloete 
requested  them  to  supply  the  troops  as  soon  as 
possible  with  some  cattle,  both  for  slaughter  and 
for  drawing  his  field-guns,  if  further  hostilities  had 
to  be  carried  on.  These  Kafirs  soon  spread  about, 
and  in  search  of  cattle  a  party  of  these  appears  to 
have  visited  two  farms,  situate  between  the  Umlaas 
and  the  Llovo  rivers  (now  forming  part  of  the 
Umlaazi  location),  and  there  meeting  two  very 
respectable  farmers,  Van  Rooyen  and  Oosthuysen, 
who  were  known  for  their  very  peaceable  disposition, 
murdered  them  in  cold  blood,  but  refrained  from 


164  SUBMISSION  TO  THE  CROWN          [LECT. 

any  act  of  violence  to  their  wives  and  children, 
who  escaped  to  the  camp  of  the  emigrants,  and 
filled  it  with  dismay  and  horror  at  the  idea  that 
the  Kafirs  had  been  incited  to  commit  these  murders 
upon  the  farmers.  Colonel  Cloete,  on  hearing  this 
report,  at  once  issued  a  public  notice,  solemnly  dis- 
avowing having  given  even  an  implied  sanction  to 
such  excesses ;  but  at  the  same  time  warned  the 
emigrants  that  it  was  quite  impossible  for  him  to 
prevent  these  outrages,  so  long  as  they  continued  in 
open  rebellion  against  Her  Majesty's  authority. 

The  latter  were,  however,  so  disconcerted  by  these 
murders,  and  they  gave  rise  to  such  a  state  of  panic, 
that  all  those  farmers  who  were  still  residing  on  their 
homesteads  at  once  fled  with  their  families  and  flocks 
to  this  town  of  Pietermaritzburg,  which  became  the 
scene  of  the  utmost  confusion. 

The  Volksraad  held  an  extraordinary  meeting  on 
a  Sunday  in  the  church-building  (the  court-hall  being 
considered  too  small  to  hold  the  whole  of  the  public), 
to  take  into  consideration  the  present  aspect  of 
affairs.  Mr.  Boshof  was  called  to  the  chair,  but 
it  was  quite  impossible  for  him  to  preserve  anything 
like  regularity  in  their  proceedings.  The  most 
violent  attacks  and  recriminations  ensued,  which 
occupied  the  whole  day,  until,  towards  the  approach 
of  the  evening,  the  strength  of  the  loudest  declaimers 
being  somewhat  exhausted,  Mr.  John  van  der  Plank 
(who,  with  Mr.  Mesham  and  Thomas  Sheers,  were 
the  only  Englishmen  who  had  been  allowed  to  be 


v.]          RESOLUTIONS  OF  THE  VOLKSRAAD        165 

at    liberty)    proposed    a   written    resolution    to    the 
effect  :— 

"That  in  the  present  state  of  affairs  it  was  expedient 
and  necessary  to  propose  to  Col.  Cloete  the  following 
terms  of  peace : — 

"  i.  That  there  should  be  granted  a  general  amnesty  to 
all  emigrant  farmers  who  had  engaged  in  these  hostilities. 

"2.  That  Col.  Cloete  should  put  an  end  to,  and  support 
them  in,  any  attack  from  the  Kafirs." 

The  chairman  thereupon  ordered  the  doors  to  be 
closed  to  the  public,  and  having  put  these  resolutions 
to  the  Volksraad,  they,  by  a  large  majority,  adopted 
them  as  a  basis  of  negotiation  with  Col.  Cloete,  and 
appointed  a  deputation,  consisting  of  the  Chairman, 
Mr.  Van  der  Plank,  Mr.  Zietsman,  and  two  more 
of  the  Council,  to  proceed  to  D' Urban  to  enter  upon 
the  terms  of  this  pacification,  but  so  impressed  were 
the  Council,  and  even  their  chairman,  of  the  succour 
they  were  to  receive  from  the  King  of  Holland, 
and  of  the  effect  which  their  petitions,  entrusted  to 
Mr.  Smellekamp,  were  to  have,  that  the  deputation 
was  directed  first  to  make  their  stand  on  the  sub- 
mission they  had  proffered  of  this  country  to 
Holland,  conceiving  that  this  would  be  held  even 
by  Col.  Cloete  as  a  bar  to  any  treaty  with  Her 
Majesty. 

The  deputation  met  Col.  Cloete  at  Cowie's  Hills, 
whither  he  had  already  advanced  with  a  small  party, 
but  such  were  the  difficulties  of  obtaining  cattle 
for  transport  that  on  that  score  alone  he  could  not 


166  SUBMISSION  TO  THE  CROWN          [LECT. 

possibly  have  made  a  further  advance.  There  the 
chairman  (Mr.  Boshof)  opened  his  negotiations,  but 
on  mentioning  the  difficulty  of  their  position  by 
their  submission  to  the  King  of  Holland,  Col.  Cloete 
at  once  dismissed  this  plea  with  ridicule,  and  stated 
that  he  had  already  prepared  in  writing  the  only 
terms  which  he  was  willing  to  grant  them.  These 
were  read  to  them,  and  the  deputation  did  not 
appear  to  object  to  their  tenor,  but  stating  that 
they  could  only  be  sanctioned  by  the  Volksraad  at 
their  special  meeting,  they  suggested  that  by  Col. 
Cloete's  presence  at  Pietermaritzburg  this  was  likely 
to  be  accomplished  far  more  readily  and  satisfactorily 
than  by  constant  deputations  or  correspondence.  Col. 
Cloete  at  once  adopted  that  suggestion,  both  with 
a  view  of  bringing  these  matters  to  a  speedy  issue, 
by  showing  them  this  mark  of  his  confidence  and 
power,  and  furthermore  (and  indeed  chiefly)  with  a 
view  of  obtaining  by  ocular  proof  and  inspection  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  the  country  and  of  the 
roads  and  passes  from  the  bay  to  this  town,  re- 
garding which  they  v  were  all  at  the  camp  in  the 
utmost  ignorance. 

Col.  Cloete  accordingly  soon  followed  the  deputa- 
tion to  this  place,  accompanied  by  Lieut.  Napier 
as  his  aide-de-camp,  Lieut  Fuller  of  the  Engineers, 
and  Lieut  Maclean  of  the  Artillery.  He  was  re- 
ceived with  every  mark  of  respect,  and  a  meeting 
of  the  Volksraad  was  specially  convened  for  the 
5th  July,  1842,  when  they  formally  tendered  to 


v.]  AN    IMPORTANT   DECLARATION  167 

Col.  Cloete  the  following  written  deed  of  submission, 
signed  by  Mr.  Boshof,  as  their  chairman,  and  twelve 
members  of  the  Volksraad.  It  was  to  this  effect : — 

"We,  the  undersigned,  duly  authorised  by  the  emigrant 
farmers  of  Pietermaritzburg,  Natal,  and  the  adjacent  country, 
do  hereby  tender  for  them  and  ourselves  our  solemn  declar- 
ation of  submission  to  the  authority  of  Her  Majesty  the 
Queen  of  England. 

"And  we  do  further  accept  and  subscribe  to  the  follow- 
ing terms  that  have  been  required  : — 

"  i st.  The  immediate  release  of  all  prisoners,  whether 
soldiers  or  civilians ; 

"  2nd.  The  giving  up  of  all  cannon  in  our  possession, 
those  taken  as  well  as  others,  with  the  ammunition  and 
stores  belonging  to  them ;  and 

"  3rd.  The  restitution  of  all  public  and  private  property 
in  our  possession,  which  had  been  confiscated. 

"Signed  by  J.  Boshof,  President,  and  12  members." 

Upon  this  document  being  delivered  to  Col.  Cloete, 
the  guns  which  had  been  brought  up  here  being 
surrendered,  and  the  prisoners,  who  had  undergone 
a  strict,  and  occasionally  a  severe,  imprisonment  in 
the  court -hall  for  six  weeks,  being  immediately 
released, — Col.  Cloete  granted  them  in  writing  the 
following  terms,  viz. : — 

"  i  st.  Under  the  authority  of  His  Excellency  the 
Governor  and  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope  he  agreed  to  grant  them  : — 

"  i.  A  general  amnesty  or  free  pardon  to  all  persons 
who  have  been  engaged  in  resisting  Her  Majesty's  troops 
and  authority,  with  the  exception  of  Joachim  Prinsloo, 


i68  SUBMISSION  TO  THE   CROWN          [LECT. 

A.  W.  Pretorius,  J.  J.  Burger,  Michael  van  Breda,  and 
Servaas  van  Breda,  whose  cases  were  to  be  left  for  the 
special  consideration  of  his  Excellency  the  Governor." 


Colonel  Cloete,  however,  after  signing  and  inter- 
changing these  documents,  became  so  satisfied  that 
Andries  W.  Pretorius,  although  then  their  military 
commander,  had  so  powerfully  exerted  his  influence 
to  bring  about  this  pacification  by  satisfying  the 
great  majority  of  the  utter  hopelessness  of  further 
resistance,  that  he  withdrew  his  name  from  the  list 
of  the  proscribed,  leaving  the  four  others  to  await 
His  Excellency's  decision. 

He  further  declared, — 

"2.  To  respect  all  private  property,  whether  houses, 
goods,  or  chattels. 

"  3.  That  the  emigrant  farmers  were  at  liberty  to  return 
unmolested  to  their  farms,  with  their  guns  and  horses. 

"4.  That  the  farmers  would  be  protected  against  any 
attack  of  the  Zoolahs  or  native  tribes. 

"  5.  That  the  tenure  of  their  lands  would  not  be  inter- 
fered with,  but  must  be  left  for  the  final  determination  and 
settlement  of  Her  Majesty's  Government. 

"6.  That  the  existing  administration  and  civil  institu- 
tions, under  acknowledgment  of  Her  Majesty's  supremacy, 
shall  not  be  interfered  with  till  the  pleasure  of  Her  Majesty 
shall  be  known.  But  that  the  Volksraad  was  not  to 
extend  any  jurisdiction  to  Port  Natal,  which  was  to  be 
placed  for  the  present  under  the  exclusive  control  of  the 
military  commandant  of  Her  Majesty's  troops.  The  limits 
of  Port  Natal  being  defined  by  the  Umlazi  River  to  the 
west,  the  Umgane  to  the  east,  and  a  line  along  the  ridges 


v.]  A   SATISFACTORY   SETTLEMENT  169 

and  crest  of  the  Berea  Hills,  joining  those  two  rivers  to  the 
north. 

"7.  That  the  Kafirs  shall  for  the  present  remain  in  the 
unmolested  occupation  of  the  grounds  upon  which  they 
were  upon  the  arrival  of  Her  Majesty's  troops,  subject  to 
such  future  arrangements  as  the  Government  may  find 
necessary  to  make  for  general  security. 

"8.  That  the  port  and  custom  dues  remain  to  the 
Crown,  and  are  to  be  left  at  the  disposal  of  Her  Majesty's 
Government." 


The  principal  and  most  effective  force  under  Col. 
Cloete's  command,  consisting  of  the  25th  Regiment, 
being  urgently  required  for  India,  was  thereupon 
immediately  embarked  on  board  of  the  Southampton, 
in  which  Col.  Cloete  also  returned  to  Cape  Town, 
leaving  the  command  of  Port  Natal  and  the  country 
within  the  limits  of  the  Berea,  as  heretofore  defined, 
and  as  entirely  excluded  from  any  interference  from 
the  Volksraad,  under  the  command  of  Capt.  Smith. 

The  whole  of  the  proceedings  of  Col.  Cloete  were 
entirely  approved  of  by  His  Excellency,  and  subse- 
quently by  Her  Majesty's  ministers,  and  no  one, 
possessed  of  a  dispassionate  and  unprejudiced  mind, 
can  fail  to  appreciate  how  satisfactorily,  in  the  space 
of  two  weeks,  he  had  accomplished  the  settlement  of 
this  very  difficult  question,  and  saved  this  country,  as 
well  as  Her  Majesty's  arms,  the  sad  consequences  of 
an  unnatural  civil  war. 

But  there  were  not  wanting  in  and  about  the  camp, 
and  among  the  persons  who  had  undergone  the 


i;o  SUBMISSION  TO  THE  CROWN         [LECT. 

hardships  of  imprisonment,  several  who  deeply 
regretted  that  no  opportunity  had  been  afforded 
them  of  satisfying  or  (rather)  glutting  their  feelings 
of  revenge.  These  represented  the  settlement  as 
not  only  inconclusive  and  unsatisfactory,  but  as 
also  keeping  up  a  spirit  of  enmity  towards  the 
emigrant  farmers.  They  made  every  little  complaint 
the  theme  for  a  renewal  of  hostilities  with  them, 
as  all  supplies  having  to  be  brought  from  Port  Natal, 
some  intercourse  was  necessarily  kept  up  with  this 
town  and  Port  Natal.  The  circulation  by  the 
Volksraad  of  their  title  deeds  to  different  farmers, 
which  had  been  struck  off  on  a  small  American 
press  at  the  Umlazi  station  many  months  before  the 
outbreak  of  hostilities,  and  which,  prefaced  by  styling 
the  Volksraad  "  The  Hon'ble  Volksraad,  as  having 
Supreme  Power  in  the  Government  of  the  Republic 
of  the  Dutch  South  African  Emigrants  at  Natal," 
was  made  the  text  of  a  violent  and  angry  corres- 
pondence between  Captain  Smith  and  the  Volksraad, 
and  matters  were  gradually  leading  both  parties  to 
such  an  estrangement  that  no  doubt  they  would  soon 
have  ended  again  in  open  hostility  but  for  my  arrival 
as  commissioner  for  this  district  in  the  beginning  of 
June,  1843,  of  which  I  shall  now  proceed  to  detail 
the  circumstances. 

In  discussing  with  Mr.  Boshof  and  some  of  the 
most  enlightened  members  of  the  Volksraad  the 
manner  in  which  the  final  arrangements  for  the 
settlement  of  this  district  could  be  best  effected 


v.]         APPOINTMENT  OF  A  COMMISSIONER       171 

(for  neither  Colonel  Cloete  nor  His  Excellency  the 
Governor  had  at  that  time  any  authority  to  enter 
upon  any  definite  arrangements  involving  the  per- 
manent occupation  of  the  country),  they  had 
suggested  that  the  best  mode  of  attaining  that 
object  would  be  by  the  appointment  of  a  special 
Commissioner,  with  whom  these  matters  could  be 
finally  settled ;  and  Colonel  Cloete  conveyed  this 
their  wish  to  His  Excellency  Sir  George  Napier, 
who,  in  transmitting  an  account  of  all  these  stirring 
events  to  Her  Majesty's  Secretary  of  State  for  the 
Colonies,  also  referred  to  that  suggestion  of  Her 
Majesty's  Government  if  it  should  be  determined 
upon  to  take  formal  possession  of  the  country. 

Nine  months  were,  however,  allowed  to  pass,  leaving 
all  these  matters  in  a  state  of  the  most  painful 
suspense ;  and  indeed  an  opinion  was  getting  rapidly 
prevalent  that  Her  Majesty's  Government  would 
still  eschew  all  interference  in  the  administration 
of  this  country,  when,  on  the  ist  May,  1843,  I 
received  a  note  from  His  Excellency  Sir  G.  Napier, 
stating  that  he  had  just  received  an  important 
despatch  on  the  subject,  and,  having  determined 
to  offer  me  to  go  to  Port  Natal  as  Commissioner, 
he  wished  me  to  come  and  peruse  the  despatch. 
I  immediately  repaired  to  Government  House,  and 
upon  its  perusal  was  so  forcibly  struck  by  the  liberal 
and  enlightened  policy  which  Lord  Stanley  (then 
Secretary  for  the  Colonies)  had  laid  down  for  the 
settlement  and  future  administration  of  this  district, 


172  SUBMISSION   TO  THE   CROWN          [LECT. 

that  I  expressed  myself  very  confident  of  the  result 
of  a  mission  which  would  announce  such  principles 
to  the  inhabitants ;  and  I  willingly  gave  up  tem- 
porarily my  profession,  and  accepted  the  commission, 
little  aware,  however,  of  the  additional  difficulties 
which  at  that  very  moment  were  arising  within  this 
district  to  oppose  or  prevent  the  attainment  of  such 
an  object. 

A  meeting  of  the  Legislative  Council  was  called 
for  the  4th  May,  at  which  His  Excellency  read  an 
able  minute,  setting  forth  the  substance  of  the 
Secretary  of  State's  despatch;  and  on  the  I2th  of 
May  my  official  appointment  was  announced  in  a 
proclamation,  which  fully  set  forth  the  extent  of 
my  authority  and  duties,  and  the  conditions  ex- 
pressly required  from  the  inhabitants  before  they 
were  to  be  considered  entitled  to  the  privileges 
vouchsafed  to  them  by  Her  Majesty's  Government. 

The  Cleopatra  frigate  soon  after  brought  me  to 
this  place,  when,  on  landing  at  the  bay,  I  was 
informed  by  the  commandant  that  a  fortnight  before 
the  Dutch  schooner  Brasilia  had  again  made  her 
appearance  off  the  bar,  having  the  notorious  Mr. 
Smellekamp  and  a  clergyman  of  the  Dutch  Re- 
formed Church  and  a  schoolmaster  on  board,  and 
wishing  to  communicate  with  the  emigrants,  but 
that  he  had  refused  them  all  intercourse  with  the 
shore,  and  had  ordered  the  vessel  away  with  all 
on  board,  at  which  he,  Major  Smith  (for  the  defence 
of  the  camp  had  earned  him  a  brevet  majority), 


v.]  HIS   MEETING  WITH  THE   BOERS  173 

understood  that-  great  excitement  prevailed  at 
Pietermaritzburg.  I  felt  the  necessity  of  im- 
mediately checking  that  ebullition,  and  I  sent  off 
instantly  an  express  to  the  Volksraad  announcing 
my  arrival,  and  on  the  third  day  after  my  landing 
arrived  at  Pietermaritzburg.  Mr.  Boshof,  Mr.  Ziets- 
man,  and  two  or  three  others  came  to  meet  me  on  my 
approach  to  the  town,  and  in  the  evening  I  received 
the  visits  of  some  of  the  members  of  the  Volksraad, 
with  whom  I  made  the  arrangements  for  holding  a 
meeting  in  the  court-hall.  The  next  morning  on 
entering  the  court-room  I  found  about  400  or 
500  persons  assembled  in  and  around,  almost  closing 
up  every  approach  towards  it,  even  every  window. 
Mr.  Stephanus  Maritz,  sen.,  presided  on  the  occasion, 
and  to  the  meeting  I  opened  my  commission  and 
gave  an  outline  of  the  duties  upon  which  I  was 
about  to  enter.  After  being  listened  to  with  great 
attention  for  nearly  an  hour  that  I  addressed  the 
meeting,  a  notorious  character,  Anton  Fick,  arose, 
stating  that  in  the  name  of  the  "public"  he  held 
a  document,  which  he  desired  to  present  to  me. 
On  asking  him  the  nature  of  the  document  he  stated 
that  it  contained  a  resolution  not  to  enter  into  any 
negotiations  with  me,  until  they  (the  public)  had 
had  intercourse  with  the  persons  on  board  the 
Brazilia,  and  had  ascertained  the  replies  from  the 
King  of  Holland  and  his  ministers  as  to  their 
relations  with  that  country. 

I  at  first  declined  receiving  or  hearing  any  such 


174  SUBMISSION  TO  THE   CROWN          [LECT. 

document  read,  but  finding  the  meeting  much  excited 
on  the  subject,  I  agreed  to  its  being  read,  under  the 
express  condition  of  my  being  at  liberty  to  answer  it 
directly,  if  I  deemed  it  advisable ;  and  with  this 
stipulation  he  proceeded  to  read  a  long,  rambling 
statement  of  all  the  grievances  and  hardships  of  the 
emigrants  to  obtain  possession  of  this  country,  full 
of  complaints  at  the  conduct  of  Major  Smith  in  not 
allowing  their  clergyman  and  schoolmaster  to  join 
them,  nor  even  to  allow  them  to  hear  the  replies 
from  Holland  to  the  treaties  they  had  proposed, 
etc. ;  the  whole  ending  in  a  series  of  resolutions  ex- 
pressive of  their  determination  not  to  enter  into  any 
arrangements  with  me  until  these  functionaries  were 
restored  to  them,  and  they  had  communicated  with 
the  Brazilia. 

I  thereupon  answered  these  resolutions  immedi- 
ately by  pointing  out  that,  at  my  departure  from 
the  Cape,  nothing  had  been  known  of  the  Brazilia 
visiting  this  coast ;  that  the  angry  tone  of  their  late 
intercourse  with  the  commandant  had,  no  doubt,  led 
to  his  prohibiting  any  communication  with  the  vessel, 
but  that  his  proceedings  were  necessarily  unknown  to 
the  authorities  at  the  Cape,  and  that  I  had,  as  Com- 
missioner, no  concern  in  these  matters,  except  to 
assure  them  that  if  the  Brazilia  had  touched  at  the 
Cape  no  doubt  an  authority  would  have  been  given 
to  these  functionaries  to  land;  and  I  further  pointed 
out  the  extreme  folly  of  expecting  any  support  from 
the  King  of  Holland,  with  the  hope  of  which  they 


v.]  ACTIVITY   OF   THE   WAR   PARTY  175 

were  still  so  impressed.  This  proposal  from  the 
"  public "  having  been  thus  set  at  rest,  I  addressed 
myself  to  the  Volksraad,  and  requested  of  them  to 
know  how  and  in  what  manner  they  would  signify 
their  acceptance  or  rejection  of  the  conditions  I 
had  laid  before  them  ;  when  their  chairman,  after 
due  consultation  on  that  point,  declared  that  there 
were  only  at  that  moment  some  half-dozen  members 
of  the  Volksraad  present,  that  the  decision  of  such 
an  important  question  required  their  full  attendance, 
and  that  their  ordinary  quarterly  meeting  being  fixed 
for  the  first  week  of  August,  they  desired  an  ad- 
journment of  the  question  till  that  date,  when  a 
full  attendance  of  all  the  members  would  be  specially 
called  for. 

This  appeared  so  reasonable  that  I  at  once  as- 
sented to  that  adjournment,  intending  to  devote  the 
intermediate  time  in  inspecting  and  registering  farms 
and  lands  in  and  about  D' Urban,  from  which  the 
influence  and  authority  of  the  Volksraad  had  been 
expressly  excluded  by  the  treaty  with  my  brother, 
Sir  Josias  Cloete. 

I,  however,  remained  here  (at  Pietermaritzburg)  a 
few  days  longer  to  explain  more  fully  to  the  most 
respectable  inhabitants  the  policy  of  Her  Majesty's 
Government ;  and  during  that  time  I  received  the 
undoubted  information  that  the  "war  party"  here 
(at  the  head  of  which  Commandant  Gert  Rudolph 
had  placed  himself)  had  sent  expresses  forthwith  into 
the  present  Sovereignty  and  Transvaal  country, 


176  SUBMISSION   TO  THE  CROWN          [LECT. 

representing  that  they  were  about  being  attacked 
by  Her  Majesty's  troops,  and  strongly  urging  the 
commandants  of  those  districts  to  be  here  with  all 
the  armed  force  they  could  collect  by  the  beginning 
of  August,  when  they  expected  an  outbreak  of 
hostilities ;  and  at  the  same  time  I  received  a 
memorial  signed  by  the  principal  inhabitants  of  this 
town,  intimating  their  dread  of  these  hostilities,  and 
soliciting  the  support  of  the  Government  against 
any  violence  which  they  apprehended  in  case  they 
were  to  show  their  loyalty  to  the  Government  or 
disapprobation  of  these  violent  proceedings.  This 
intelligence  I  immediately  transmitted  to  His 
Excellency,  and  returned  to  D'Urban,  where  the 
registration  of  lands  fully  engaged  my  time  during 
the  months  of  June  and  July,  when  on  the  2ist 
July,  Her  Majesty's  steamer  Thunderbolt  (the  first 
Government  steamer  employed  upon  our  coast,  and 
subsequently  lost  on  Cape  Receif)  arrived  at  Port 
Natal  with  a  detachment  of  the  45th  Regiment  and 
two  guns,  which  His  Excellency  had  despatched 
immediately  on  the  receipt  of  my  communication  as 
to  my  first  reception  here,  and  the  expected  meeting 
in  August. 

With  this  accession  of  force  I  had  flattered  my- 
self that  Major  Smith  would  have  been  enabled  to 
advance  upon  this  town  before  any  burgher  force 
could  have  arrived  from  behind  the  Draaksberg; 
that  he  might  thus  have  imparted  such  a  confi- 
dence in  the  inhabitants,  in  and  about  the  town,  as 


v.]  COMMISSIONER  AND  VOLKSRAAD  177 

to  ensure  their  presence  at  the  meeting  undeterred 
by  the  menaces  of  those  who  were  bent  upon  war ; 
but  Major  Smith  declined,  on  what  the  Czar 
terms  "  strategic  grounds,"  making  the  advance ; 
and  his  determination  (although  at  the  time  deeply 
regretted  by  me)  only  tended  in  its  results  to  lead 
to  a  far  more  satisfactory  conclusion  of  this  political 
drama. 

I  had,  however,  determined  personally  to  be 
present  here,  and  I  accordingly  intimated  this  in- 
tention to  the  Volksraad,  and  arrived  on  the  6th  of 
August  on  the  Uysdorns  hill.*  I  was  soon  met  by 
an  advanced  guard  of  some  twenty  men,  and  near 
the  town  by  about  eighty  or  a  hundred  more 
mounted  persons,  all,  however,  unarmed,  but  on 
reaching  my  residence  at  the  house  of  Messrs. 
Behrens  (now  part  of  the  present  Colonial  Office), 
I  was  waited  upon  by  Commandant  Mocke  and  five 
or  six  other  commandants,  and  about  twenty  field- 
cornets  from  behind  the  Draaksberg,  who,  with  about 
800  or  1000  men,  had  marched  into  the  town  a  few 
days  before  and  had  encamped  on  the  market-square, 
where  about  twenty  waggons  were  ranged,  containing 
all  their  arms,  ammunition,  and  supplies.  The  com- 
mandants, severally,  at  once  offered  me  a  guard  for 
my  personal  protection,  which  I,  however,  civilly 
declined,  expressing  my  entire  conviction  that  I 

*  This  hill  is  about  five  miles  from  Pietermaritzburg,  remarkable 
for  being  densely  covered  with  the  thorny  "mimosa,"  and  where  the 
clan  of  "  Uys"  had  made  their  first  encampment. 

N 


178  SUBMISSION  TO  THE   CROWN          [LECT. 

needed  no  such  protection  ;  but  I  certainly  found 
the  town  in  a  state  of  confusion  and  excitement, 
which  it  is  quite  impossible  to  describe. 

The  proceedings  of  the  Volksraad  had  commenced 
the  day  before  my  arrival,  when,  under  the  influence 
of  the  "war  party,"  the  commandants  and  field- 
cornets  from  beyond  the  Draaksberg  had  insisted 
upon  holding  a  "combined"  Council  of  delegates  from 
the  two  districts  on  this  and  that  beyond  the  moun- 
tain (as  explained  in  my  first  lecture) ;  and  that  this 
combined  Council  should  consist  of  sixty  members, 
for  the  palpable  object  thus  to  give  a  preponderating 
number  of  votes  on  any  question  to  their  numerous 
party.  This  they  had  succeeded  in  carrying,  and 
the  moment  they  had  been  elected  and  taken  their 
seats  the  notorious  Mr.  Fick  commenced  a  personal 
attack  upon  Mr.  Boshof  of  the  most  virulent 
character,  charging  him  with  having  betrayed  their 
Council,  as  they  termed  it,  and  with  having  falsified 
a  document  (referred  to  in  my  previous  lecture), 
by  which  the  members  of  the  Volksraad  had 
tendered  their  submission  to  Her  Majesty's  authority 
in  July,  1842. 

It  appeared  that  on  that  occasion  Mr.  Boshof, 
having  been  the  chief  (if  not  the  only)  person  who 
could  fitly  embody  their  resolutions  in  writing,  had 
had  the  labour  of  drawing  out  and  engrossing  all 
the  documents,  when  some  duplicates  or  triplicates 
having  been  required  of  this  treaty,  one  or  two 
of  the  country  members,  who  were  anxious  to  leave 


v.]  THE   VOLKSRAAD   DIVIDED  179 

the  town  and  return  to  their  families,  had  signed 
one  of  the  copies  of  the  document  in  blank,  which 
Mr.  Boshof  subsequently  had  to  fill  in. 

This  had  maliciously  been  perverted  into  his 
having  got  some  members  to  sign  a  document  of 
which  they  knew  not  the  contents,  and  was  made  the 
handle  of  the  most  malignant  attacks  upon  his 
person  and  character ;  but,  fortunately,  the  members 
whose  convenience  he  had  consulted  in  taking  their 
signatures  before  he  had  been  able  to  make  all  the 
copies  were  present,  and  at  once  completely  ex- 
plained and  refuted  this  base  calumny ;  while 
Mr.  Boshof's  whole  career  was  so  unassailable  that 
all  these  objections  were  overruled,  and  he  was 
allowed  to  take  his  seat  in  the  Council,  where  they 
were  well  aware  that  he  could  not  fail  to  exert  a 
commanding  influence. 

One  entire  day  was  occupied  with  this  preliminary 
wrangle,  and  the  parties  broke  up  late  at  night  to 
recommence  their  deliberations  the  next  morning 
early.  During  that  night,  however,  a  party  of  the 
most  violent  and  unprincipled  ruffians  among  them 
held  a  secret  meeting  in  one  of  the  huts  about  the 
"vley"*  in  this  town,  where  they  resolved  upon 
coming  armed  to  the  meeting  of  the  Volksraad  the 
next  morning,  there  to  bring  about  a  scuffle  or  out- 
break, in  the  course  of  which  they  would  make  an 
attack  upon  (or,  in  plainer  language,  assassinate) 
Boshof,  Pretorius,  and  two  others,  whom  they  con- 

*  A  swampy  part  of  the  town,  at  that  time  almost  uninhabited. 


i8o  SUBMISSION   TO  THE   CROWN          [I.ECT. 

sidered  the  principal  heads  of  the  peace  or  sub- 
mission party.  Andries  Pretorius,  who  on  that 
occasion  proved  himself  the  true  benefactor  of  this 
country,  and  who  by  his  scouts  kept  a  watchful  eye 
upon  all  the  proceedings  of  every  party,  got  very 
early  intelligence  of  this  plot,  and  he  accordingly 
came  to  the  meeting  also  secretly  armed  and  sur- 
rounded by  numerous  and  powerful  clans ;  and  as 
the  business  of  the  meeting  was  about  to  commence, 
seeing  the  party  mustering,  whom  he  knew  had  been 
hatching  this  atrocious  conspiracy,  he  addressed  the 
meeting  in  a  strain  of  impassioned  extemporaneous 
eloquence  not  unworthy  of  Cicero  himself,  and 
hardly  surpassed  by  the  latter  in  his  first  "Catilin- 
aria,"  which,  if  worked  up  by  a  Sallust  or  Livy, 
would  have  handed  down  his  name  to  posterity  as 
a  great  orator  ;  in  the  course  of  which  he  informed 
the  chairman  and  the  meeting  of  a  foul  conspiracy, 
which  he  knew  had  been  planned  against  the  friends 
of  peace  and  good  order,  and  that  he  could  at  once 
point  out  the  principal  ruffians ;  but  he  disdained 
to  hand  down  their  names  to  everlasting  infamy, 
and  (looking  to  the  knot  where  they  were  chiefly 
collected),  stated  that  their  looks  already  betrayed 
the  guilt  of  their  consciences ;  that  he  dared  them 
to  show  the  arms  which  he  knew  they  were  secretly 
hiding  in  their  bosoms ;  that  if  force  and  violence 
were  intended  he  and  his  friends  were  fully  prepared 
to  repel  it ;  but  if  not  lost  to  all  sense  of  shame,  he 
advised  them  to  hide  their  diminished  heads,  and  to 


v.]  WISE    COUNSELS   PREVAIL  181 

retire  from  a  conflict  where  reason  and  temper  were 
required  and  not  brute  force,  and  thus  save  them- 
selves from  the  everlasting  infamy  which  would 
attach  upon  their  names  if  they  once  commenced 
upon  any  act  of  open  violence. 

Never  were  the  following  lines  of  the  immortal 
poet  more  applicable  than  to  the  position  in  which 
these  persons  then  appeared  : — 

"  Thus  conscience  does  make  cowards  of  us  all, 
And  thus  the  native  hue  of  resolution 
Is  sicklied  o'er  with  the  pale  cast  of  thought ; 
And  enterprises  of  great  pith  and  moment, 
With  this  regard,  their  currents  turn  awry, 
And  lose  the  name  of  action  "  : 

for  not  one  ventured  to  answer  the  challenge.  The 
whole  of  that  clique,  who  soon  betrayed  themselves 
by  their  manner  and  countenance,  silently  dropped 
off  from  the  assembly,  and  the  meeting  subsided 
at  once  into  more  order  and  decorum  than  had  been 
hitherto  observed.  Stephanus  Maritz,  sen.,  parti- 
cularly distinguished  himself  by  the  temper,  tact, 
and  judgment  which  he  displayed  on  that  memorable 
occasion  :  he  very  adroitly  got  a  preliminary  question 
to  be  mooted  in  how  far  the  inhabitants  from  beyond 
the  Draaksberg  had  a  right  to  vote  on  this  question, 
viz.,  whether  they  were  to  be  affected  by  any  arrange- 
ment with  me,  as  they  had  not  been  parties  to  the 
treaty  with  Col.  Cloete  ;  and  a  deputation  from  the 
Volksraad  waited  on  me  at  Mr.  Behren's  residence, 
where  I  was  anxiously  waiting  the  result  of  this 


182  SUBMISSION  TO  THE  CROWN          [LECT. 

meeting  to  obtain  a  formal  answer  to  a  question, 
"  How  far  my  authority  was  to  extend,  or  how  far 
Her  Majesty  meant  to  assert  her  supremacy  over 
this  country?"  Although  I  was  then  but  a  few 
yards  from  the  court  hall  and  square  where  those 
exciting  events  were  taking  place,  I  was  naturally 
kept  in  ignorance  of  what  was  passing  at  the  very 
moment.  As  I  had  determined,  as  yet,  not  to  take 
any  part  in  those  proceedings,  having  only  informed 
the  chairman  that  I  was  here  ready  to  answer  any 
questions  they  might  wish  to  put,  and  thus  not  being 
aware  of  the  exact  purport  and  object  of  the  question 
when  put  to  me,  I  yet  candidly  informed  them  that 
by  my  instructions  the  future  boundaries  of  this 
district  had  been  left  entirely  to  my  decision  and 
report ;  that  I  was,  however,  fully  aware  that  Her 
Majesty's  Government  did  not  wish  in  any  way  to 
extend  her  authority  over  vast  extents  of  country 
where  an  effectual  protection  to  life  and  property 
could  not  be  secured  to  the  inhabitants,  and  that 
I  did  not  therefore  hesitate  to  declare  at  once  that 
I  was  fully  prepared  to  recommend  that  the  extent 
of  this  district  should  be  bounded  on  the  north  by 
the  natural  Quathlamba  range  of  mountains,  and  not 
to  extend  beyond  it. 

This  answer  had  a  great  effect  upon  the  delibera- 
tions of  the  Volksraad.  A  resolution  was  thereupon 
put  and  carried,  declaring  that,  as  the  inhabitants 
beyond  the  Quathlamba  or  Draaksberg  mountains 
were  not  to  be  affected  by  any  of  my  proceedings, 


v.]    WITHDRAWALS   FROM   THE  VOLKSRAAD     183 

their  representatives  now  here  had  no  right  to  vote 
on  questions  which  did  not  affect  them  ;  and  some 
of  the  commandants  and  representatives  from  beyond 
the  Sovereignty  even  joined  in  that  resolution,  seeing 
that  they  would  have  considerable  difficulty  in  carry- 
ing their  original  intention.  The  second  day's  pro- 
ceedings then  closed  late  at  night  by  the  whole  of  the 
members  who  had  taken  their  seats  as  representing 
the  Winburg  and  (now)  Sovereignty  territory,  with- 
drawing from  the  Volksraad ;  and  Commandant 
Mocke,  accompanied  by  De  Kock,  Du  Plooy,  and 
several  other  field-cornets,  called  upon  me  the  same 
evening  to  bid  me  farewell,  Mocke  declaring  with 
a  bitterness  of  feeling  (which  clearly  betrayed  the 
disappointment  and  vexation  he  felt)  that  he  never 
again  would  have  anything  to  do  with  Natal  and 
its  affairs,  that  he  had  been  grossly  deceived  by  the 
representations  he  had  received,  and  that  he  would 
now  order  his  men  peaceably  to  withdraw.  This 
order  seemed  to  meet  with  the  most  implicit 
obedience.  The  next  day  passed  by  in  their  making 
preparations  for  their  departure,  and  the  follow- 
ing day  the  whole  of  that  division,  about  700  or 
800  strong,  wended  their  way  over  the  town-hill 
on  their  return  to  the  Sovereignty,  encountering 
great  hardships  on  the  road  from  snowstorms  and 
scarcity  of  provisions. 

On  the  third  day  of  the  meeting  of  the  Volksraad 
its  members  were  thus  reduced  to  the  twenty-four 
members  representing  the  Council  for  this  district 


184  SUBMISSION  TO  THE   CROWN          [LECT. 

only ;  and  the  calm  and  temperate  tone  adopted  at 
that  meeting  seemed  at  once  to  give  promise 
of  a  peaceful  and  satisfactory  conclusion  to  their 
deliberations. 

Dr.  Poortman  happened  to  have  received  a  letter 
from  some  friend  in  Holland,  in  which,  alluding  to 
the  letters  brought  over  by  Smellekamp,  the  writer 
informed  him  of  the  delusion  which  had  been  prac- 
tised upon  them  here ;  and  after  this  letter  had  been 
submitted  to  the  closest  scrutiny  by  the  post-mark 
being  examined,  no  doubt  remained  as  to  its  genuine- 
ness, and  they  appeared  at  last  to  become  satisfied 
that  all  hope  of  succour  or  support  from  Holland 
was  at  an  end,  when  they  took  into  consideration 
the  terms  of  Lord  Stanley's  despatch  of  the  I3th 
December,  1842,  which  I  had  brought  with  me,  and 
of  which  I  had  made  a  translation,  so  far  as  to  show 
the  sound  reasoning  and  the  liberal  policy  by  which 
Her  Majesty's  Government  were  actuated  in  their 
adoption  of  this  territory. 

I  had  caused  several  copies  to  be  made  of  this 
extract,  which  I  had  circulated  among  them,  and  a 
perusal  thereof  will,  even  now,  no  doubt,  interest 
my  auditors,  and  confirm  the  opinion  I  had  formed 
on  that  subject. 

One  part  of  that  despatch  is  to  this  effect,  viz. : — 

"  The  question  then  remains,  in  what  manner  to  deal  with 
the  district  and  the  numerous  population  thus  brought  again 
into  submission,  and  under  allegiance  to  Her  Majesty. 

"  Various  courses  may  be  pursued,  the  supremacy  of  the 


v.]  LORD   STANLEY'S   DESPATCH  185 

British  crown  having  been  established :  the  existing  popu- 
lation might  be  permitted  to  remain  and  conduct  their  own 
affairs,  withdrawing  the  British  troops,  and  thus  neither 
exercising  practical  control  over  them,  or  affording  them 
efficient  protection. 

"  They  may  be  removed  and  compelled  to  return  under 
the  pressure  of  an  overwhelming  military  force,  such  as 
would  leave  no  alternative  but  those  of  submission  or 
extermination. 

"  The  emigrants  may  be  summoned  to  return  within  the 
settled  limits  of  the  colony  of  the  Cape,  deprived  of  all 
protection,  in  the  event  of  their  refusal,  against  the  hostility 
of  the  Zoolahs  and  other  tribes,  and  of  the  Kafirs  within 
their  own  boundaries,  and  further,  if  deemed  expedient, 
cut  off  from  all  supplies  by  sea,  and  all  regular  and  uninter- 
rupted communication  by  land ;  or,  lastly,  they  may  be  taken 
under  the  protection  of  the  British  crown,  their  district 
recognised  and  adopted  as  a  British  Colony,  and  such  insti- 
tutions established,  under  British  authority,  as  Her  Majesty 
may  think  fit. 

"  All  these  courses  are  open  to  adoption,  and  all  require 
thus  to  be  maturely  and  carefully  weighed. 

"Two  other  courses,  indeed,  there  are,  to  neither  of  which, 
however,  could  Her  Majesty's  servants  for  a  moment  listen: 
the  one,  to  admit  the  independence  of  the  emigrants,  and 
to  disclaim  all  responsibility  respecting  them ;  the  other,  to 
permit  them  to  come  under  the  protection  or  dominion  of 
any  foreign  power. 

"  i.  The  first  course  of  the  four  to  which  I  have  adverted 
is  open  to  very  obvious  objections.  Virtually,  though  not 
nominally,  it  would  be  conferring  independence  on  the 
emigrants,  and  the  British  Government  would,  in  the  face 
of  the  civilised  world,  make  itself  responsible  for  the  con- 
duct of  its  subjects,  whom,  nevertheless,  it  neither  assumed 

N   2 


186  SUBMISSION  TO  THE  CROWN          [LECT. 

to  control  by  legislation,  nor  to  protect  by  military  support. 
I  fear,  moreover,  that  in  the  present  state  of  the  population, 
many  of  their  acts,  whether  towards  each  other,  towards  the 
native  tribes  within  their  limits,  or  towards  those  who  sur- 
round them,  might  be  such  as  the  British  Government  could 
neither  approve  nor  permit;  that  disunion  and  jealousies 
among  themselves  would  require  the  intervention  of  some 
supreme  authority,  and  that  Her  Majesty  could  not  safely 
entrust  the  emigrant  farmers  with  the  unchecked  manage- 
ment of  the  Kafirs  within  their  territory,  nor  repose  entire 
confidence  in  the  moderation  and  temper  with  which  they 
might  repel  the  aggressions  or  avenge  the  occasional  depre- 
dations of  the  border  tribes. 

"  2.  I  confess,  if  there  were  any  reasonable  probability  of 
inducing  the  body  of  the  emigrants  to  return  within  the 
settled  limits  of  the  colony,  under  your  government,  either 
voluntarily  or  after  a  reasonable  time,  by  such  methods  of 
compulsion  as  I  have  already  indicated,  such  would  be 
the  result,  which,  as  you  are  already  aware,  Her  Majesty's 
Government  would  most  willingly  see  accomplished. 

"  But  you  and  Col.  Cloete  concur  in  representing,  in  the 
strongest  terms,  the  impossibility  of  inducing  any  consider- 
able numbers  of  these  emigrants  voluntarily  to  return  to  the 
colony  for  the  sake  of  British  protection ;  and  in  your  des- 
patches of  the  25th  of  July  and  the  24th  of  August  you 
assign  very  strong  reasons  why,  on  this  subject,  no  inter- 
mediate mode  of  compulsion  should  be  adopted. 

"  Her  Majesty's  Government  have  carefully  weighed  the 
arguments  which  you  have  urged  and  the  difficulties  which 
you  have  suggested  in  opposition  to  such  a  measure,  and  I 
am  bound  to  acknowledge  that  they  appear  to  us  to  be 
almost,  if  not  entirely,  conclusive. 

"But  it  appears  to  us  that  there  are  reasons  at  least 
equally  strong  against  the  third  course  suggested,  that  of  the 


v.]  LORD   STANLEY'S   DESPATCH  187 

employment  against  the  Boers  of  a  force  sufficient  to  compel 
their  return,  or  to  exterminate  them. 

"  That  such  a  course  is  within  our  power,  there  can  be  no 
doubt ;  but  notwithstanding  all  the  faults  of  which  the  emi- 
grants have  been  guilty,  I  cannot  be  insensible  to  their 
good  qualities,  nor  to  the  past  hardships  which  they  have 
undergone;  nor  can  I  reconcile  it  to  my  sense,  either  of 
humanity  or  policy,  to  employ  a  large  British  force  in  the 
extirpation  of  a  body  of  industrious  colonists,  professing 
allegiance  to  the  British  crown,  and  inviting  the  savage 
tribes  surrounding  them  to  join  in  the  exterminating  pro- 
cess. Measures  so  extreme  could  be  justified  only  by  a 
necessity  which  I  am  happy  to  think  does  not  in  this  case 
exist. 

"  There  remains  then  only  to  be  considered  the  question 
of  the  recognition  of  the  territory  of  Port  Natal  as  a  British 
colony,  or  part  of  a  British  colony. 


"The  Commissioner  will  be  authorised  to  call  together 
the  principal  emigrant  farmers  and  others,  and  inform  them 
that  Her  Majesty  having  been  graciously  pleased  to  bury  in 
oblivion  past  transactions,  and  desirous  of  being  enabled  to 
rely  upon  their  present  assurances  of  dutiful  obedience  and 
loyalty,  is  anxious  to  place  the  institutions  of  the  colony 
upon  such  a  footing,  consistent  with  the  maintenance  of 
her  royal  authority,  as  may  be  most  acceptable  to  the 
bulk  of  her  subjects.  The  Commissioner  is  therefore  to  be 
authorised  to  invite  the  unreserved  expression  of  their 
opinions  and  wishes,  in  respect  to  the  judicial  and  other 
local  institutions,  under  which  they  may  desire  to  be  placed, 
with  an  assurance  that  such  expressions,  when  submitted  to 
Her  Majesty,  shall  receive  Her  Majesty's  most  favourable 
consideration. 


i88  SUBMISSION  TO  THE  CROWN         [LECT. 

"  He  will  cause  it  to  be  distinctly  understood,  however, 
that  this  authority  does  not  extend  to  the  question  of  legis- 
lation ;  on  which  Her  Majesty  reserves  to  herself  the  most 
entire  freedom  of  action. 

"  I  think  it  probable,  looking  to  the  nature  of  the  popula- 
tion, that  they  will  desire  those  institutions  to  be  founded 
on  the  Dutch,  rather  than  on  the  English,  model,  and  how- 
ever little  some  of  those  institutions  may  be  suited  to  a 
more  advanced  state  of  civilisation,  it  is  the  desire  of  Her 
Majesty's  Government  that  in  this  respect  the  contentment 
of  the  emigrants  rather  than  the  abstract  merits  of  the 
institutions  should  guide  our  decision." 

The  principles  thus  laid  down  as  to  the  future 
policy  of  Her  Majesty's  Government  were  so  sensible, 
and  approved  themselves  so  entirely  to  their  own 
wants  and  wishes,  that  the  meeting  resolved  at  once 
to  adopt  them ;  but  a  difficulty  then  arose  as  to  the 
manner  in  which  this  adoption  should  be  penned, 
and  a  deputation  accordingly  again  waited  upon  me, 
expressive  of  their  desire  to  know  how  their  sub- 
mission had  best  be  worded.  I  at  once  referred 
them  to  the  proclamation  of  His  Excellency  Sir  G. 
Napier  of  the  I2th  May,  which,  indeed,  only  em- 
bodied the  precise  terms  of  Lord  Stanley's  despatch, 
and  informed  them  that  no  deed  of  submission  would 
be  accepted  by  me  which  did  not  embrace  and  ex- 
press their  entire  acceptance  of  the  three  conditions 
set  forth  in  that  proclamation,  and  I  referred  them  to 
these  words,  as  set  forth  in  that  proclamation,  viz. : — 

"It  is  also  necessary  that  the  Commissioner  should 
most  explicitly  make  known  to  the  emigrants,  that  what- 


v.]  THE   TERMS  ACCEPTED  189 

ever  may  be  the  institutions  ultimately  sanctioned,  these 
conditions  are  actually  essential : — 

"  i.  That  there  shall  not  be,  in  the  eye  of  the  law,  any 
distinction  or  disqualification  whatever,  founded  on  mere 
distinction  of  colour,  origin,  language,  or  creed,  but  that 
the  protection  of  the  law,  in  letter  and  in  substance,  shall 
be  extended  impartially  to  all  alike. 

"  2.  That  no  aggression  shall  be  sanctioned  upon  the 
natives  residing  beyond  the  limits  of  the  colony,  under 
any  plea  whatever,  by  any  private  person,  or  any  body  of 
men,  unless  acting  under  the  immediate  authority  and 
orders  of  the  Government. 

"  3.  That  slavery  in  any  shape,  or  under  any  modifica- 
tion, is  absolutely  unlawful,  as  in  every  other  portion  of 
Her  Majesty's  dominions. 

"  You  will  take  care  that  it  be  distinctly  understood  that 
these  three  conditions  are  indispensable  preliminaries  to  the 
permission  which  it  is  proposed  to  give  to  the  emigrants  to 
occupy  the  territory  of  Port  Natal,  and  to  enjoy  therein  a 
settled  government  under  British  protection ;  and  I  trust 
that  no  difficulty  will  be  found  in  obtaining  the  willing 
acquiescence  of  the  emigrants  in  stipulations  so  reasonable, 
and  in  our  own  judgment  not  more  called  for  by  humanity 
and  justice,  than  essential  to  the  peace  and  good  order  of 
the  district." 

Another  deputation  soon  after  followed,  expressive 
of  the  entire  concurrence  of  the  Volksraad  in  the 
second  and  third  conditions,  but  stating  that  they 
still  thought  that  the  first  clause  should  be  modified 
in  some  shape ;  it  was  evident  from  this  that  they 
were  still  inclined  to  suggest  some  special  reserva- 
tion in  regard  to  the  rights  or  liberties  of  the  Kafirs, 


igo  SUBMISSION  TO  THE   CROWN          [LECT. 

and  to  lay  the  foundation  for  separate  class-legisla- 
tion for  these ;  but  I  repelled  all  idea  of  such  a 
nature  by  at  once  declaring  that  I  would  not  admit 
the  slightest  departure  from  those  terms,  and  at 
length  towards  the  evening  the  chairman,  together 
with  a  deputation  from  the  Council,  handed  me  the 
following  declaration,  which  expressed  in  the  follow- 
ing words  their  entire  and  unconditional  acceptance 
of  all  the  terms  prescribed  by  His  Excellency. 
The  document,  as  translated,  runs  thus  : — 

"  PlETERMARITZBURG,  8//4  August. 

"SiR, — We,  the  undersigned  members  and  representa- 
tives of  the  Volksraad,  having  had  in  consideration  the 
proclamation  of  His  Excellency  the  Governor,  dated  i2th 
May  last,  do  hereby  declare  to  have  agreed  to  the  condi- 
tions set  forth  in  the  sixth  article  of  the  said  proclamation, 
and  to  accept  the  same. 

Signed  by, 

J.  MARITZ,  President          A.  J.  SPIES 
M.  J.  POTGIETER  P.  G.  HUMAN 

P.  R.  OTTO  J.  A.  KRIEL 

P.  M.  ZlETSMAN  M.  A.  VAN  AARDT 

B.  POORTMAN  G.  C.  VlLJOEN 

M.  J.  PRETORIUS  GERT  SNYMAN 

J.  A.  ClLLIERS  H.  J.  VAN  DEN  BERG 

G.  R.  VAN  ROOYEN  A.  Z.  VISAGE 

G.  J.  NAUDE  M.  PRINSLOO 

C.  F.  ROTMAN  C.  A.  RUTHMAN 

L.  J.  MEYER  N.  J.  S.  BASSON 

G.  F.  POTGIETER  J.  BODENSTEIN,  Sec.  of 

P.  R.  NEL  the  Volksraad. 

"Addressed  to  the  Hon'ble  H.  CLOETE, 

Her  Majesty's  Commissioner." 


v.]  ACCEPTING  THE   INEVITABLE  191 

It  will  be  thus  seen  that  this  stormy  meeting 
held  in  this  town  in  August,  1843,  after  being 
protracted  for  three  days,  had  ended  in  all  the 
twenty-four  members  of  the  Volksraad  unanimously 
signing  this  formal  deed ;  and  when  it  is  considered 
that  although  Pretorius,  Boshof,  Zietsman  the  elder, 
and  several  others  of  the  most  respectable  inhabitants 
who  had  no  seat  in  the  Volksraad,  had  yet  expressed 
their  entire  concurrence  in  this  Proclamation,  no 
doubt  can  be  entertained  that  this  solemn  deed  of 
submission  to,  and  recognition  of,  Her  Majesty's 
authority  had  been  obtained  by  the  deliberate  and 
unanimous  voice  of  all  those  who  had  really  any 
stake  or  interest  in  the  country ;  and  with  every 
friend  of  humanity  it  became  a  matter  of  heartfelt 
satisfaction,  and  of  gratitude  to  the  Great  Disposer 
of  human  affairs,  that  this  had  been  brought  about 
by  a  perfectly  free  and  unbiassed  judgment  of  the 
constituted  authorities  at  the  time,  without  any 
threats  or  pressure  from  without;  but  I  cannot 
close  this  lecture  without  recording  my  sincere 
acknowledgment  that  this  peaceable  and  satis- 
factory termination  of  the  broils  of  the  inhabitants 
with  the  Government  had  thus  been  chiefly  effected 
by  the  influence  of  (the  now  deceased)  Andries 
Pretorius,  of  Stephanus  Maritz,  of  Mr.  Boshof,  of 
Dr.  Poortman,  and  the  Zietsmans,  father  and  son, 
who  proved  themselves  true  friends  of  the  welfare 
of  this  country,  which  (despite  many  difficulties 
with  which  it  has  had  to  contend)  has  made 


192  SUBMISSION  TO  THE   CROWN          [LECT. 

during  these  last  twelve  years  a  steady  progress 
in  social,  agricultural,  and  commercial  improve- 
ment. 

These  persons  chiefly  opened  the  eyes  of  their 
countrymen  to  the  delusion  under  which  they  had 
long  laboured,  either  as  to  their  power  of  self- 
government  and  independence,  or  the  still  more 
vain  hope  of  foreign  support ;  and  I  trust  I  may 
now  venture  to  express  my  sincere  thankfulness 
to  them  for  the  aid  they  afforded  me  during  those 
trying  scenes. 

You  have  now  been  informed  of  the  true  state 
of  things  in  this  district  from  its  early  formation 
until  the  formal  submission  of  its  inhabitants  to 
Her  Majesty's  authority ;  you  will  perceive  how 
errors  and  faults,  committed  on  both  sides,  threat- 
ened at  one  time  to  plunge  this  country  into 
an  interminable  civil  war,  and  how  this  was 
most  providentially  averted,  chiefly  by  the  in- 
fluence of  reason  and  good  sense  actuating  the 
minds  of  the  leading  men  in  this  community, 
who  became  fully  impressed  that  Her  Majesty's 
Government,  bound  to  assert  its  authority  and 
dignity  on  the  one  hand,  was  yet  inclined  to 
confer  upon  them  every  advantage  consistent  with 
true  liberty ;  for  liberty  (we  jurists  know)  does  not 
consist  in  doing  everything  any  individual  in 
society  pleases,  but  only  in  doing  that  which  is 
not  contrary  to  law  and  higher  authority  — "  nisi 
quod  vi  aut  jure  prohibeatur " ;  and  I  cannot  give 


v.]  A  NEW  GOVERNOR  193 

you  a  more  striking  proof  of  the  effect  which  the 
dissemination  of  those  principles  of  Her  Majesty's 
Government  produced,  even  upon  those  who,  "with 
curses  loud  and  deep,"  had  broken  up  from  the 
deliberations  of  the  Volksraad,  and  had  returned 
to  their  homes  in  the  Sovereignty,  than  that  four 
months  after  these  occurrences  had  taken  place  I 
was  agreeably  surprised  by  a  deputation  arriving 
here,  headed  by  the  two  most  influential  inhabitants 
of  the  Modder  and  Caledon  rivers,  Van  den  Heever 
and  Overholster,  who  presented  me  a  memorial, 
signed  by  500  actual  landholders  in  that  district, 
soliciting  that  I  might  also  extend  my  labours  to 
the  country  from  the  Draaksberg  to  the  banks  of 
the  Orange  River,  and  that  a  very  large  majority 
of  the  inhabitants  there  were  willing  also  to  sub- 
scribe to  the  same  terms  as  the  inhabitants  of  this 
district. 

I  at  once  informed  them  that  I  had  personally 
no  objection  to  proceed  to  their  country  and  arrange 
matters  there  in  the  same  way  as  I  was  doing  here, 
but  that  the  decision  on  this  memorial  must  rest 
altogether  with  the  Governor  of  the  Cape  Colony, 
to  whom  the  memorial  would  be  transmitted.  This 
I  accordingly  did ;  but  in  the  meantime  "  a  new 
king  arose  in  Egypt  who  knew  not  Joseph,"  or,  in  a 
plainer  language,  another  Governor  (Sir  Peregrine 
Maitland)  had  come  out  and  superseded  Sir  George 
Napier,  whose  period  of  holding  a  government, 
under  the  Queen's  regulations,  had  long  expired. 


194  SUBMISSION  TO  THE   CROWN          [LECT. 

This  Governor,  who  probably  felt  no  such  deep 
interest  in  these  matters  or  countries  as  his  pre- 
decessor, or  had  received  more  stringent  rules  to 
carry  out,  simply  replied  "that  the  application 
could  not  be  entertained." 

It  is  therefore  vain  now  to  indulge  in  speculations 
how  the  affairs  of  the  Orange  River  Territory  would 
have  proceeded  if  the  same  policy  had  been  followed 
out  towards  them  ;  but  the  following  little  anecdote 
will  show  the  zeal  and  prudence  with  which  that 
deputation  had  performed  the  trust  confided  to 
them.  Some  days  before  their  arrival  at  this 
place  we  had  heard  a  report  that  a  deputation 
was  on  its  way  here,  but  that  they  had  been 
stopped  and  waylaid  by  some  of  the  "  Ultra- 
Radical  party"  behind  the  mountain.  On  their 
presenting  themselves  to  me  I  alluded  to  this 
report,  and  begged  to  be  informed  whether  there 
was  any  truth  in  it,  when  old  Overholster  replied 
that  there  was  some  truth  in  it,  that  the  signing 
of  this  memorial  and  its  object  were  necessarily 
known  throughout  the  country,  and  that  at  the 
Sand  River  Drift  (which  they  were  obliged  to  cross 
on  their  way  here),  an  armed  party  from  the  neigh- 
bourhood had  surrounded  them,  and  declaring  them 
"traitors"  to  their  country  had  positively  and  vio- 
lently threatened  to  attack  them  unless  they 
delivered  up  the  memorial  to  them.  But  Overholster 
proceeded :  "  We  had  also  anticipated  and  provided 
for  such  an  occurrence,  for  after  a  show  of  resistance 


v.]  THE   BLESSINGS   OF  PEACE  195 

we  somewhat  reluctantly  took  out  of  the  front  chest 
of  my  waggon  the  memorial  which  had  been  placed 
there,  and  which  they  carried  off  in  triumph ;  but 
at  the  same  time  we  had  had  a  duplicate  prepared 
of  the  same  document,  and  signed  by  all  the  500 
landowners  as  the  other ;  this  duplicate  I  kept  in 
the  bedding  of  my  '  katel,'  and  now  deliver  with 
its  seals  quite  intact." 

This  little  incident  shows  at  least  the  earnestness 
with  which  they  had  set  about  to  have  the  same 
boon  conferred  on  them  as  had  been  granted  to  the 
inhabitants  of  this  district ;  and  the  latter  would 
be  ungrateful  indeed  if  they  failed  now  to  acknow- 
ledge and  be  thankful  for  the  very  many  blessings 
which  have  been  vouchsafed  to  them  as  a  com- 
munity during  the  last  twelve  years. 

I  fear,  at  least,  that  I  am  not  only  deeply  indebted 
to  those  influential  persons  whose  names  I  have  just 
given  as  the  real  benefactors  of  their  country ;  but, 
independent  of  this  feeling,  I  could  not  but  be 
sensible  every  day  during  the  momentous  events 
by  which  I  was  surrounded,  that  there  was  a 
Divinity  throughout,  watchful  of  the  interests  of  this 
favoured  country,  and  whose  right  hand  was  then, 
and  has  ever  since  been,  protecting  it  from  the 
horrors  of  the  savage  wars  by  which  the  Cape 
frontier  and  the  Sovereignty  have  been  afflicted ; 
that  here,  at  least,  during  all  those  years,  neither 
war,  famine,  nor  pestilence  has  afflicted  the  country  ; 
but,  on  the  contrary,  with  whatever  difficulties  the 


196  SUBMISSION  TO  THE  CROWN      [LECT.  v. 

first  introduction  of  a  settled  government  may  have 
been  beset,  it  has  slowly  but  surely  progressed  in 
the  development  of  every  resource  from  which  the 
true  prosperity  of  a  country  depends. 

Everywhere  around  us  we  perceive  striking  signs 
of  improvement,  both  in  our  social,  moral,  agricul- 
tural, and  even  political  relations ;  and  the  ines- 
timable blessing  of  peace,  which  we  have  so  long 
enjoyed,  only  requires  to  be  continued  to  bring  these 
advantages  into  full  maturity. 

As  I  shall  probably  within  a  few  days  terminate 
all  further  connection  with  the  Natal  district,  in 
bidding  you  an  affectionate  farewell  I  may,  then, 
be  permitted,  I  trust,  to  express  a  hope  that  you 
may  not  only  long  continue  in  the  enjoyment  of 
those  blessings,  but  that,  by  your  public  acts  as  a 
community,  and  by  your  conduct  in  the  relations 
of  private  life,  you  may  render  yourselves  worthy 
of  the  continuance  of  those  blessings  from  the 
Divine  Disposer  of  events. 

Esto  ptrpetua  I 


PLYMOUTH 
WILLIAM    BRENDON   AND   SON,    PRINTERS 


University  of  California 

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